Come listen to a tale from your Uncle Kenny about two counties. One is in the Capital Region, the other is on the Eastern Shore. Both of the legislative bodies are majority Democrat. Both of them have addressed illegal immigration, however not in the same way.

Let’s begin with the county on the shore, Queen Anne’s County. In February of this year, the Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to pass a resolution requiring all vendors doing business with the county to follow immigration laws. Any failure to do so will result in the termination of the relationship between the county and vendor.

When I talked with county commissioner Gene Ransom III (D-Dist. 3) about the measure he sponsored at the time, he stated that it was about the law adding that it’s not fair for those companies who are struggling and play by the rules to lose out to those companies who are cheating by employing illegal aliens. Ransom also stated that immigration is a federal issue, although it was important for the county to take a stand. This is a stark contrast to the other county.

The Washington Examiner reported recently that Montgomery County police, despite the fact they assisted in last year’s raid of the El Pollo Rico restaurant in Wheaton, that agency does not assist federal immigration authorities when it’s strictly an immigration raid. A spokeswoman for the department said, “We don’t want our community members to think Montgomery County police conduct random raids that can result in the deportation of undocumented immigrants.” The spokeswoman added that they would provide public safety assistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when there is a criminal investigation involved, as was the case in Wheaton.

The office of County Executive Ike Leggett said it was a fiscal matter. A spokesman as quoted in The Examiner article, “We’ve made it pretty clear that there are limits to the extent to which we are willing to use local taxpayer money to enforce federal immigration law.” He goes on to say that the fed has not stepped to the plate and that they made their choice in their absence.

Here is the problem, other than the fact that the Montgomery County Police department and the Montgomery County Executive’s office are not spinning on the right page. As Ransom said it’s about the law and in my opinion, Montgomery County is refusing to back it up.

Let me state for the record, I do not think that every illegal immigrant is a thieving, murderous person. I recognize that all they want is a better life for their family, but at the same time we are a nation of laws and they must be followed. Also, this country would be wasting its time if they decide to fence off the Mexican border or the Canadian border for that matter.

Montgomery County says they do not want to support federal law, if that is the case, then the Maryland State Police and the neighboring counties, including Prince George’s County should leave Montgomery County to fend for itself. The police department’s stance and the county executive’s stance are completely selfish. If they do not like the law or the fiscal support about it, they should do something about it. They have congressional representatives and two Senators, talk to them. But not to support the law is a vote towards lawlessness.

The police spokeswoman did say that the department would respond “if violence did break out” at an immigration raid. Now we are just smacking common sense in the face. I have never been a public safety volunteer, let alone member, but wouldn’t it be smarter to have officers at the immigration raid BEFORE the violence broke out, that way the situation would not be messy? I am only asking. It’s pretty stupid to wait for the worse to happen instead of taking preventative measures.

No matter what side of the immigration argument you are on, you have to admit this is pretty pathetic not to assist another law enforcement agency as it tries to enforce laws on the books, whether it’s a fiscal issue asserted by Leggett’s office, or an issue of “community kumbaya” as suggested by Montgomery County Police. Laws are laws, no matter how much we like them or not. We have to follow them no matter what, ask the kind folks of the government of the District of Columbia.

Let it be noted that The Examiner reported that Montgomery County is the only police department in the Greater Washington area that would not automatically support federal agents conducting workplace immigration raids. As per standard operating procedure (of some kind,) Prince George’s County, my home county, did not respond to the paper’s inquiries. That does not surprise me, but more on why I am not shocked next week.

kennyburns@marylandpolitics.us