County Executive Marc Elrich said that leaders will do what they can to keep people safe, but Montgomery County will not obstruct arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Elrich said doesn’t want to tell people the county will be there to bar the way, “because we can’t.”
“We are not putting our police or our people between ICE agents and the people they’re coming for,” Elrich said during a media briefing Wednesday. “It wouldn’t work, everybody would be arrested immediately, and they would go ahead and do what they were going to do anyway. You don’t pick a fight with somebody you can’t beat up, and we certainly can’t do that.”
He said the county can make sure local resources like healthcare and food programs are available. The county’s Gilchrist Immigrant Resource Center offers numerous resources.
County Council President Kate Stewart said Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) are preparing principals and school staff in case ICE shows up to schools.
The county is taking it “day by day” until additional information is released, said Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Dr. Earl Stoddard. He said a lot of the recent changes are currently high-level policy pronouncements and are not yet fully operational.
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