County Chairman: Uniform Immigration Policies Are Needed

Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart said in an interview today that the federal and state governments need to develop uniform policies with local law enforcement agencies to combat illegal immigration.

Stewart's concerns come three days after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a 27-page investigative report about Carlos Martinelly-Montano, who was arrested in August 2010 on charges that he killed a local nun in a drunken driving crash—his second DUI charge in the county.

Stewart said he believes Prince William County law enforcement handled the Montano cases correctly, based on policies that were in place at the times of each arrest.

In December 2007, Montano received his first DUI conviction in Prince William County. At that time, Prince William County law enforcement did not have a policy that required officers to ask about the residency of all arrested individuals, so local police did not contact federal immigration agents about Montano's conviction.

A year later,  Montano was charged again with DUI. This time, the immigration policy was in effect, and this is when Prince William County law enforcement realized Montano was in the country illegally.  Local officials contacted federal immigration agents, who  took Montano into custody on Oct. 7, 2008.

But Stewart said he and local law enforcement officials are very concerned that instead of deporting Montano, federal agents released him on a program called Alternatives to Detention, which uses GPS to monitor him. The permit is also known as a federal work card.

While he was free, Montano was charged with failing to appear in court on a charge of driving without a license in Fairfax County in March 2009 and reckless driving in Manassas Park in April 2010. The DHS reports state that officials in both localities never contacted ICE agents about Montano's arrests.

Neither Fairfax County nor Manassas Park have enacted similar immigration policies as in Prince William County.

"And clearly that is why our police are very upset about this particular issue," Stewart said. "You have to be able to rely on something to determine someone's immigration status."

Fairfax County Division Chief K.L. Barton said Montano does not appear in their records or database.

"Just as a note, reckless driving is considered a traffic infraction and the person is released on a summons at the scene and not normally taken into custody," Barton wrote in an e-mail today.

Manassas Park police officials have not been reached for comment yet, but an interview request has been sent.

Stewart said law enforcement officials in Fairfax and Manassas Park may not have contacted federal agents because Montano had the federally issued Alternatives to Detention permit.

 "They would have no reason to report him to ICE because he showed them the permit that ICE issued," Stewart speculated.

Even so, Stewart said this case highlights the reasons why uniform policies need to be enacted on immigration. A bill that would have made it a statewide policy for law enforcement to inquire about any arrested person's legal residency was killed in a State senate committee this year, after easily passing the House.

“It is critical that every other jurisdiction in Virginia do exactly what Prince William County is doing, which is inquire about immigration status for everyone that is arrested," Stewart said.

Stewart said without uniformity, law enforcement officers aren't required to ask about an arrestee's residency status and that may be why Montano escaped earlier deportation.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said policies in Fairfax County that prohibit a local officer from contacting federal immigration agents if he or she is suspicious of a person's legal residency status "helped kill someone."

"Time after time illegal aliens have run ins with the police, and because of their policies, the police do not communicate with ICE," he said. "These folks need to be detained until they are deported and it is a political decision not to do it."

Prince William County has been in a legal battle with DHS to get the records after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year.  DHS officials told a federal district court judge and Rep. Frank Wolf that they could not release the report because they had not completed it.

Earlier this month, county officials filed a lawsuit against DHS. That same week, DHS officials released the report.

But the report is dated Nov. 24, 2010. Stewart said this date leaves him and others to believe that DHS did have a report completed and available earlier than last week when it released the investigation.

"So, how is it that they can state that the report is not ready and then give us a report that is dated November 2010?" Stewart said. "Something is not right. Either there is a more extensive report or they mislead the federal district court judge, Congressman Frank Wolf and Prince William County."

Stewart said another concern he has is the DHS report does not state the policy used to provide Montano with a permit to walk free until his deportation hearing.

"Our police are especially concerned about this because they have been relying on the permit for legal residency," Stewart said. "We want to know what the policy is."

Prince William County police no longer accept the Alternatives to Detention permit as proof of legal residency in the United States, Stewart said. Gov. Bob McDonnell in September 2010 also issued an order to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles that prohibited the acceptance of the federal employment cards as proof of legal residency to obtain a driver's license or a state identification card. He made the order as a direct connection to the Montano case because he used one to get a driver's license after his second DUI arrest.

"The integrity of the credentials issued by the commonwealth is of the utmost importance," McDonnell had said.

Stewart said the federal government cannot handle illegal immigration problems by itself. He said local and state law enforcement must communicate with and partner with federal immigration agents and DHS so that everyone is working off of the same page.