Members of the Latino community sat down with leaders of Prince George’s County law enforcement Monday night and asked them: “Can we trust you?”
They wanted to know whether the agencies would physically assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in making the type of street deportation arrests seen across the country.
There were also concerns about an increase in domestic violence as families deal with skyrocketing stress and fear of contacting police.
District 2 Councilmember Wanika Fisher was among those who took questions from those assembled by CASA.
“The fear is real,” she said. “People in certain parts of our community in Prince George’s County are not calling 911, are not reporting crime, are living with heinous acts that none of us would tolerate, because they are literally terrified to have any law enforcement engage in any way.”
Prince George’s County Interim Police Chief George Nader appeared via video link. Some of his top command staff were present to answer questions.
Of growing concern is the reluctance of residents to call police in domestic violence situations in which the alleged victim, alleged offender or both are undocumented.
Both Nader and Prince George’s County Sheriff John Carr said they consider it a top priority that people feel safe to contact them in an emergency without fear of being reported to ICE.
“We work too hard to develop a relationship with our community, and we’re not going to lose it because of where we are currently right now,” Carr said. “It’s too much, it is too important for us that we have to be here for our citizens.”
The officials say they are seeing a reluctance to contact police coming from immigrants across the county.
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