Gaithersblog readers will likely recall this story from a couple of weeks ago, about Casa de Maryland’s unease with Frederick County’s cooperation with the Federal immigration authorities. One of the central examples cited by Casa to highlight what they perceived as the harm this would do was the arrest of illegal immigrant Alejandro Rocha and the difficulties this created for his companion, Rosibel David, and their child.
According to a report by Sherry Greenfield published today in the Frederick Gazzete:
However, the new initiative, known as 287G, had nothing to do with Rocha’s arrest, The Gazette has learned from law enforcement officials. It was the Maryland State Police, which does not participate in the initiative.
‘‘This goes to show what I’ve been saying, that Casa de Maryland has been too quick to judge, and that Casa de Maryland has been quick to point the finger at the sheriff,” said Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (R). ‘‘When you don’t have anything, it’s easy to throw out the race card because it sells newspapers.”
The details of what really happened are a little bit uncertain, as the Gazette has not yet been able to reconcile some differences between the stories told by the State Police and Federal immigration authorities. But the lack of involvement by the Sheriff seems undisputed. The initial misinformation appears to have stemmed from confusion on the part of the driver of the stopped car, who simply assumed that the arresting officers were Sheriff’s deputies. Casa de Maryland and the NAACP appear to have taken this at face value.