Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WOODBRIDGE — (WMAL) Your fate as an illegal immigrant in the D.C. area could be vastly different depending on which county you’re in.
In Prince William County, Board of Supervisors Chairman and gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart is announcing an effort to find and deport 7,500 illegal immigrants he says were arrested and accused of crimes in the county since 2008.
“The first job of any level of government is to protect the lives and the rights of its citizens,” Stewart told reporters. “Our police officers are responsible for enforcing all laws – local, state, and federal.”
Stewart said everyone arrested in Prince William County, regardless of race, gets his or her immigration status checked.
“I want our police department to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to remove criminal illegal aliens,” Stewart said.
However, in Montgomery County, officials said it’s not just wrong, but illegal to for local police to step in in such a way.
“There is no federal law, nor could there be a federal law, that requires local police to inquire with respect to immigration status,” Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner told reporters Monday. “They cannot do that under the Constitution, and we do not do that. So we do not withhold information with respect to such matters.”
Berliner and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett have a press conference planned Wednesday to reaffirm their support for the immigrant community and to strategize on its defense.
For Stewart, the Trump administration could represent an opening in what he said is his long-standing effort to see criminal illegal immigrants taken out of his county. He said the Obama and Bush administrations failed to deport criminals the county reported, and would like the Trump administration to send down any and all information on where those immigrants may be located.
However, Stewart could receive pushback from his own colleagues on the Board of Supervisors. One Democrat, Supervisor Frank Principi, told reporters Stewart had gone rogue with his latest idea.
“They have to be convicted to be a criminal illegal alien, and his effort here is to redefine criminal,” Principi told reporters. “What it will do is create a police state in Prince William.”
And it looks all the more dubious as Stewart makes a run for Governor, Principi said.
“I think it’s all political theatrics,” Principi said. “And I think it’s bad for our community. My guess is that my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors will not accept this at all.”
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (photo: Montgomery County, Prince William’s County)
