Steve Burns

WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE, Md. – (WMAL) The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a budget measure to provide nearly $374,000 in funding to provide legal defense for county residents facing deportation. The measure’s passage, however, came after several changes to the provisions around the measure, angering people on both sides of the issue.

The money was first slated to go to the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, a D.C.-based non-profit, but the coalition announced this week it was backing out, citing a list of exclusionary crimes that it said had grown far too large. CASA, another immigrants’ rights group, blamed State’s Attorney John McCarthy for persuading the council to expand the list.

“The State’s Attorney ballooned the list of offenses, tripling the total number of exclusions to over 60. Under the new proposal, CAIR Coalition would be prohibited from representing county residents with minor offenses, including traffic, property, financial, and substance abuse offenses, even if those residents were survivors of domestic violence or trafficking; or likely to be tortured or persecuted in their home countries if deported. These exclusions functionally cripple the program, preventing the CAIR Coalition from representing nearly 3/4ths of all potentially eligible county residents,” CASA said in a statement.

McCarthy pushed back on Tuesday, telling WMAL there are still plenty of people CAIR could have helped.

“There are still a significant number of people that are law-abiding citizens that they could serve…shame on them for coming for the money and then not taking it,” he said.”I thought that the (original) list was woefully inadequate…I think that there’s strong law enforcement reasons for the amendments to the bill.”

McCarthy said the council failed to understand that some would try to re-litigate any prior offense, often re-victimizing someone in the process, to become eligible for the help. However, he said he supports the overall purpose of the bill.

Following the council’s approval, some proponents of the legislation left the hearing room upset with the expanded list.

“It was a sham. They created too many exclusions to the point where the non-profit provider could literally not work with the county,” said Holly Syrrakos of Takoma Park. “The list went on forever. It really did.”

Others left unhappy that any taxpayer money was being spent at all.

“It was a misappropriation of taxpayer money for their pet projects at the expense of the community, and community safety,” said Gail Weiss.

Council President Hans Riemer said organizations that provide similar services can now apply to use the money. The scope of the measure has also been expanded beyond people already in custody.

“We would like to be able to provide additional support for people who may be at home and are still able to meet our qualifications,” he said.

The money is set to become available on July 1, upon County Executive Ike Leggett’s approval of the new budget.

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