More News

A conservative watchdog group says Takoma Park's so-called sanctuary law violates federal law, a claim city officials dispute.

In an Oct. 20 letter to city officials, Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch Inc. said the law, which prevents city employees from releasing information about the immigration status of residents to third parties, violates federal law that prohibits local governments from withholding such information.

"You can't restrict this sharing of information, and if you take a look at the city's sanctuary laws, they pretty clearly run afoul of these provisions," said Paul J. Orfanedes, director of litigation for Judicial Watch.

The city's law was enacted in 1985 to protect refugees fleeing from violence in Central America. In January, the City Council rejected an amendment that would have granted city police the ability to report illegal immigrants previously deported and convicted of felony violent crimes to the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.

City Manager Barbara Matthews said she and City Attorney Susan Silber received the Judicial Watch letter requesting city officials to review the legitimacy of the law but said no changes to the city law are being considered. While she hopes to avoid a legal battle, Silber said the city would defend the law in court if necessary.

"We believe what we're doing is the right thing," she said. "What I would hope is that Judicial Watch would prioritize its time on fixing the federal immigration law rather than focusing on what local governments are trying to do [to cope with it]."

For now, Orfanedes said Judicial Watch is maintaining its role as an educational organization but warned that it has brought legal action against jurisdictions with sanctuary laws in the past.

"We have brought lawsuits in the past to try to address directly aspects of sanctuary policies, and that depends really on the availability of a legal remedy," he said.

This is not the first time Takoma Park's sanctuary law has faced criticism. In October 2007, the City Council rejected an amendment by Police Chief Ronald Ricucci that would have allowed city police to report previously deported illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes to federal agents.

"The city would be liable in my opinion if we had a criminal in our custody and we had to let them go and he turned around and killed somebody," Ricucci said Thursday. "I wouldn't want that on my conscience."

He mentioned the Nov. 1 shooting death of 14-year-old Tai Lam of Silver Spring by an alleged illegal immigrant living in Takoma Park. He said if city police had picked up the alleged shooter, officers would not have been able to notify federal agents of his status and detain him for deportation.

The shooter had been detained for a weapons offense by Montgomery County police officers before the shooting, but was released.

Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams expressed sympathy for Lam's family and the community, but restated his and the city's support for its sanctuary law.

"We're not contemplating changing it," he said.

Silber echoed the belief of the mayor and City Council that illegal immigrants would be reluctant to cooperate with police in important investigations for fear of deportation without such a law in place.

Ricucci disagreed, saying the majority of the city's immigrants do not know about the law.

"The immigrants that we're dealing with on a daily basis down in the Langley area, I don't think they have any idea the sanctuary ordinance even exists," he said.

If an illegal immigrant wanted by federal immigration agents is detained by city police, the deportation notice appears on National Crime Information Center, a national computerized crime database maintained by the FBI, but officers are unable to directly report the illegal immigrant.

Despite his objections, Ricucci said he and his officers continue to follow the law, offering the city a united, if not unanimous, front against possible legal actions by Judicial Watch.