Immigration Vigilantes or Deputies on Patrol?

Frederick's sheriff tells his side of the arrest that sparked a lawsuit

By ANNE REYNOLDS

Updated 8:00 PM EST, Fri, Nov 13, 2009

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The Frederick County sheriff is speaking out about a civil rights lawsuit filed this week against him and his department.

The suit stems from an arrest made in October 2008. It alleges that two deputies arrested Roxana Orellana Santos last fall solely because they believe she was in the country illegally.

Attorneys from LatinoJustice and Casa de Maryland say Santos was eating her lunch one day when the officers approached her and started questioning her about her immigration status. She was arrested and spent the night in jail, before being transferred to a special holding jail for immigration cases. She said she spent 46 days there before being released.

Today, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins told a very different story about the circumstances surrounding the arrest.

"Let me be clear, the statements and allegations made in the filing are inaccurate, misleading, and do not include all the facts," the Sheriff said Friday.

According to the sheriff, the two deputies were on a routine patrol in the area when they spotted Santos. When she saw the deputies, they said she began acting suspicious and tried to hide from them, prompting the deputies to investigate what was going on. The sheriff said they asked her for identification, and when they ran her information through their computer, they discovered there were warrants out for her arrest.

"They ran a check through NCIC, the check came back that she was wanted by ICE for an order of deportation arrest warrant," Jenkins told News 4. "She would have been taken by any law enforcement officer or agency in the state of Maryland or across this country."

Sheriff Jenkins said the lawsuit is an attempt to derail Frederick County's participation in the federal 287g program. Under the program, specially trained deputies check the immigration status of everyone who is arrested. When they discover that someone is in the country illegally, immigration officials are notified.

Jenkins said the deputies involved in this incident are not even involved in the program.

First Published: Nov 13, 2009 7:09 PM EST

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0 Comments

{"totSize":4,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331759_70046867","adminTags":null,"views":345,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Immigration Vigilantes or Deputies on Patrol?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2743530,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"14 Nov 2009 02:21:35 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1243883","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Is this broad an illegal alien or not, and why do these two subversive groups continue to imply that said broad was arrested for "eating her lunch?" Hey, if she's here illegally she needs to get the boot ASAP. Period."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331759_70046867","adminTags":null,"views":345,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Immigration Vigilantes or Deputies on Patrol?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2743530,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"14 Nov 2009 21:20:46 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1246027","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":""Anonymous" apparently has little knowledge of the Constitution let alone 4th Amendment law. She wasn't commitming a crime--she was eating-- so there was no reason for the police to approach and question. Police can't randomly approach people without a reason and especially not because of race, ethnicity, or attire. The Supreme Court is very specific on this point and think about the terrible reprecussions to all of us if we were to give police all of this power. The US is not a police state, thank God. The point is the deputites should not have approached or questionned her in the first place regardless of her immigration status, which was not immediately ascertainable. Or do you think they should have questioned her just because she is Latina? Are you one of those people who conflates Latino ethnicity to undocumented immigration status?"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331759_70046867","adminTags":null,"views":345,"createdBy":13593194,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Immigration Vigilantes or Deputies on Patrol?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2743530,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"15 Nov 2009 00:10:15 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"MaynardFlash","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1246380","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"hey Anonymouse@4:20- lets get something straight here, people like YOU the Casa de mexcriment are lucky groups aren't targeting their office to blow it up. People are way past fed up at this insanity with the dregs coming here from third world squalor and turning this place into the same. This type of vigilance will increase! These little POS lawyers will be dealt with as well."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"331759_70046867","adminTags":null,"views":345,"createdBy":13331025,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Immigration Vigilantes or Deputies on Patrol?","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2743530,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"15 Nov 2009 04:11:22 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"publicservant2","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1246959","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"This woman is not only illegal but had already been Court ordered to be deported. Suing law enforcement agencies and officers for enforcing the law? That sounds like a brilliant plan. I just do not understand how it is that some 11 million people can be here in violation of existing laws and then sue the people who are enforcing those laws. If 11 million people each robbed a bank would we decide that enforcing the federal law was just too complicated and difficult because 11 million people had broken it? Excuse me if I do not see the difference. Could we please enforce the laws we have and stop coddling people who have no legal right to be here."}],"error":"","totPages":1}