Immigrant Proposal Divides Frederick

Official Suggests Denying Services

Guy Djoken, president of the Frederick County NAACP chapter, briefs a group opposed to the proposal on a meeting he had with the commissioners. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

The immigrant community in Frederick County grew quickly and quietly in the first half of this decade. Priced out of such places as Adams Morgan, Silver Spring and Manassas, many Latinos migrated up Interstate 270, drawn by Frederick's booming construction and retail service industries.

Longtime residents of the once-sleepy exurb began to notice: Latin groceries cropped up on the so-called Golden Mile of shopping. The school system budget for language interpreters grew by $1 million in two years. And this spring, a spotlight turned on a Frederick immigrant enclave when a Salvadoran man and his four children were found dead in their townhouse.

But still, people kept quiet -- until a county commissioner suggested in August that Frederick deny public services, including schooling, to immigrants in the United States illegally. Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins's proposal to follow the lead of Prince William and Loudoun counties in targeting illegal immigrants sparked a firestorm in Frederick, whose foreign-born population has nearly tripled this decade and is the fastest-growing in Maryland.

As the county board prepares to vote tomorrow whether to advance Jenkins's proposal to the state legislature, Frederick is a community deeply divided.

Racial tensions are flaring, and fear has taken hold among immigrants, some of whom say they feel this county 40 miles north of Washington is trying to push them out. Residents are speaking out, and loudly.

A public forum on the issue last week stretched past midnight with dozens saying the proposal is an unconstitutional violation of civil rights. Further, opponents say, immigration policy is the province of Congress, not county commissioners.

Jenkins and his backers say illegal immigrants are sucking up public dollars, especially in the schools, where the cost to teach English has soared. "My proposal was that if you're going to avail yourself of benefits that are provided by taxpayer dollars that you at least demonstrate that you belong in this country legally," said Jenkins, a Republican.

Immigration, particularly the debate on how to address those who are in the county illegally, has suffused the Washington region.

In July, county supervisors in Prince William and Loudoun approved resolutions to deny certain public services to illegal immigrants, but they have run into legal and financial barriers. In Anne Arundel, County Executive John R. Leopold (R) issued an executive order in August banning businesses with county contracts from employing workers in the country illegally.

But Frederick's government charter does not give its county board the power to take such action. The five county commissioners can vote only to recommend that the county's state senators and delegates introduce Jenkins's proposal as a bill in the 2008 state General Assembly.

It is uncertain whether the proposal will win support from a majority of the commissioners. If it does, the bill will stand little chance before the state's liberal legislature. Even Jenkins acknowledges this much.

"I don't think it will even make it to Annapolis," he said.