ACLU Files Federal Complaint Against Frederick County Sheriff

The transcript is available below.

The 287(g) agreement with ICE in Frederick County must end. In July, the ACLU of Maryland joined the national ACLU to file a federal administrative complaint calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to investigate the Frederick County Sheriff, Charles Jenkins to end the dangerous agreement that promotes anti-immigrant hate and deportation.  
 
On this episode of Thinking Freely, you’ll hear from Sergio Espana, the ACLU of Maryland’s director of engagement and mobilization in an exclusive interview with Maria Caceres, the community affairs director at El Zol 107.9 to discuss the issue and the details of the complaint.

Produced by: Nehemiah Bester, communications strategist at ACLU de Maryland
Parts read by: Neydin Milián, communications strategist at ACLU de Maryland
 
This podcast was recorded on Piscataway land.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:22
Sergio España
We want to know that our federal government is also enforcing the law fairly for all. Like we‘ve been talking about since 2008, year after year after year, there have been cases of abuse from the Office that have been proven through lawsuits. There has been abuse of people who are detained.

00:29 – 00:43
Neydin Milián
You’re listening to Thinking Freely with the ACLU of Maryland. The show that talks about what’s happening politically in Maryland from the courts, to the streets, and everywhere in between. I’m Neydin Milián.

00:43 – 00:51
Nehemiah Bester
And I’m Nehemiah Bester, this episode of Thinking Freely will be in Spanish.

00:51 – 01:43
Neydin Milián
In July, the ACLU of Maryland joined the national ACLU to file a federal administrative complaint calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to investigate the Frederick County Sheriff, Charles Jenkins and end the harmful 287g agreement between ICE and the Sheriffs’ Office. The Sheriff has used this 287g agreement to promote anti-immigrant hate and deport and detain community members. The ACLU of Maryland’s Director of Engagement and Mobilization, Sergio Espana sat down with Community Affairs Director, Maria Caceres from radio station El Zol, 107.9 to discuss the issue as well as next steps in the complaint.

01:43 – 02:11
María Cáceres
(Song: María José Cáceres, getting you closer to your community in your Zol family.) Thank you for joining us for these 60 minutes of your Zol family. Now we're going to feature an interview with Sergio España from the ACLU, who I'm going to talk to about an administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security against Frederick County Sheriff Jenkins, Sergio España next and we welcome him.

02:11 – 02:55
Sergio España
Good morning and thanks for the invitation. I am Sergio España. I am the director of Mobilization for the ACLU of Maryland. We are a national organization, but we also have offices in each state and I am part of our office in Maryland. We all focus on the civil rights of all Marylanders, regardless of immigration status, race, gender. And we work with the community to make sure that the community knows their rights, knows how to protect themselves, and also participates with us in advocacy to make sure that our elected officials and our police officers respect the law and apply it fairly to everyone.

02:55 – 03:05
María Cáceres
Sergio, we know that the ACLU of Maryland has filed a federal administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security. What can you tell us about it?

03:05 – 03:57
Sergio España
It's not a lawsuit in the sense that it's in court, but we are asking the Department of Homeland Security's office at Homeland Security to do a formal investigation into how the Fredrick County Sheriff, Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, how he is enforcing his office and ensuring that he is applying the law as it should be, fairly. We need to do this at the federal level, because, well, it's been year after year after year, where we've had reason to be concerned with the facts, starting in 2008, almost just getting started, he as sheriff, he started a program, he joined a federal program called 287g that trains local sheriff's officers to act like they were ICE agents.

03:57 – 05:10
Sergio España
And then they could, when people are arrested, also process them under the ICE database to see their immigration status and from there connect directly with immigration officers to pick them up. And what we've seen since 2008 is over 1,500 Frederick residents have been deported and the vast majority were deported for things that simply weren't violent. It's not that they were involved with gangs or under investigation for theft, things of that sort. Most of the cases that started that kind of process were for civil violations and license violations or traffic violations and things like that. With that said, the sheriff has used this program to dehumanize the immigrant community in Frederick and place a sense of fear there. He is well allied with members of President Trump's group. He has been to several parties with him and with many people who are connected to the Trump organization, many of whom have also been arrested or sued for criminal practices.

05:11 – 05:33
Sergio España
We have already sued and won several times against this program at the local level, where they could no longer be doing what they were doing years ago, when they stopped people, before being arrested, they were already trying to communicate with ICE. Now, that surely isn't happening anymore. Fewer and fewer people have been prosecuted under this program, but it is still in law and it is still

05:33 – 06:18
Sergio España
being practiced when people are already detained at the Frederick Detention Center. Separately, it is how he has applied this program. We have hesitated on speaking about the philosophy of how he applies the law, besides him being associated with the Trump administration, which at the end of the day is something clearly, it is politics and everything. He has also had connections with racist organizations. There is no other way to say it. Organizations connected to movements that say they are constitution movements, constitutional movements, but the focus is on making sure the sheriffs apply the law however they want, without having to follow federal laws or federal rights laws.

06:18 – 07:18
Sergio España
And also most recently in March, he's also been sued and is under federal criminal investigation, the same thing he's been projecting onto the immigrant community. Right now, he's under federal investigation and he's starting to go to court and he's charged, basically, with lying to the federal government to get access to machine guns, violent pistols that could only be used by police. But those machine guns were used to rent, to rent to community members associated with Jenkins and his allies privately and, in that way, according to what is happening in court and the investigation, those rentals were also used to help the sheriff gain political favor at the local level and also to help their allies raise funds and from there they used them to support their, their election.

07:18 – 08:24
Sergio España
In other words, right now he is dealing with the court, we cannot say how, if he is guilty or not, but it is something very, very serious. And it also comes, it's another point, coming to our concern about how he's doing, we know that he has abused the 287g program in the past and with what's going on in court, it gave us pause, in what other ways, basically, is he abusing the office in a general way? We want to make sure that the Department of Homeland Security does the necessary investigation, aside from what is happening with him being prosecuted in court, to ensure that the law is applied fairly to everyone in Frederick.

08:26 – 08:12
María Cáceres
During all these years that we have been informed about, well, the actions of Sheriff Jenkins, when we say sheriff in Spanish, is he the head of the Frederick Police Department or is he the sheriff in charge of the prison system?

08:12 – 08:13
Sergio España
No.

08:13 – 08:17
María Cáceres
Can you specify that for us, please?

08:17 – 09:25
Sergio España
Each county has its police with both Frederick. There is the Frederick City Police. But there's also the, uh, sheriff's office which is the General County police. The position of police chief at the local level, most of those are elected by people, by representatives of each county, be it the executive or members of the council. The sheriff is a position that is chosen. It is a political position. Also, that's why he is the person that he is, he has been elected, he is a Republican, elected with the conservative movement. Since 2008, basically, as the community has gotten more diverse and that has also affected who can vote, but the only position left with authority at the Republican level is the position of the sheriff in Frederick. So then, because of that, in the end, those connections at the national level, because the Republican Party sees him as someone that is exemplary for the republican movement at the state level and at the national level.

09:25 – 09:30
María Cáceres
What should his role be? The function of the Sheriff, speaking in an objective way.

09:30 – 09:58
Sergio España
In most counties, because they already have a lot, their own police departments, the focus is basically just overseeing the county detention center and that's part of the Frederick Sheriff's job, but other than that, the sheriff in Frederick, that county is more rural, many of the members of the sheriff's office work in a more general police capacity where they can stop people for any reason. Basically.

09:58 – 10:02
María Cáceres
So they do police work.

10:02 – 10:03
Sergio España
Yes.

10:03 – 10:08
María Cáceres
Now, regarding Sheriff Jenkins, we see that he obviously has political pretensions. No?

10:08 – 10:39
Sergio España
Yes, unfortunately, he, those desires, on a political level, the way in which he is developing that personality, those relationships, is partly the way in which he has been damaging the immigrant community. From what we see, almost purposefully, what we see when we talk about the 287g program is that most of the people who have been arrested, prosecuted, were not for violent acts, most were for civil violations, traffic violations or things like that.

10:39 – 11:08
Sergio España
And we also see how he wants to, heavy-handedly, dehumanize the population that is in the general detention center as well. Most who have not been accused and have not been found guilty. Another thing that happened at the beginning of this year is that in the detention center where the sheriff is in charge, there was a break in the plumbing, where. These details are going to be, they are going to be painful.

11:08 – 11:49
Sergio España
Listen, but basically, these humans, this was coming out of the plumbing of the same, the jails of almost an entire block of detention centers and for days, for days, dozens of people arrested had to be in their own feces, so, many people got sick or had problems. And when the community was following what was happening when they could communicate with family, the sheriff's office in secret is saying that the problem was not as serious as we know it to be. Also there needs to be an investigation, because many people got sick because of that.

11:49 – 11:56
María Cáceres
The people who are detained in the center were like this for many days?

11:56 – 11:57
Sergio España
Yes.

11:57 – 11:59
María Cáceres
It is unfortunate. Was this problem solved?

11:59 – 12:14
Sergio España
Yes, it was solved and we know that it was for at least four days, it could be a little longer. And we also know that the level of cleaning was not adequate and took too long, separately, simply, in the end, there is no plumbing anymore.

12:14 – 12:28
María Cáceres
Sergio, now, before this complaint that, as you have very well said, is not a legal lawsuit, but rather an administrative complaint so that the Department of Homeland Security can investigate Sheriff Jenkins. What are you all hoping for? What does the ACLU of Maryland expect?

12:28 – 13:45
Sergio España
We hope the truth comes out. We want to know that our federal government is also enforcing the law fairly for all. Like we‘ve been talking about since 2008, year after year after year, there have been cases of abuse from the Office that have been proven through lawsuits. There has been abuse of people who are detained, like what just happened recently in the detention center and now also this case, where they are basically, he himself could be jailed for what is happening right now with the investigation where he was renting machine guns to gain political connections at the local level. All of those things are in the public records, but he still follows through with the 287g program. The sheriff, although he's saying that he's, supposedly, not working right now because he's under investigation and could be in jail. He says that he is not working, but we also know that he still has access to the resources of the sheriff's office. He's still driving the sheriff’s office’s cars. He is still giving official presentations for the office, including the annual presentation on the 287g program.

13:45 – 14:10
Sergio España
In other words, he is basically acting without impunity. After more than a decade, of that kind of abuse, we want to make sure the federal government does its job and makes sure the law is applied fairly for everyone. And for that, it means we simply need a more formal investigation of what has been brought to light thanks to the efforts of individuals in Frederick who have ensured that their voices are heard.

14:10 – 14:15
María Cáceres
Through this 287g agreement, does the sheriff's office receive funding, Sergio?

14:15 – 15:07
Sergio España
Yes, they receive funds. Most of the funding comes for the training the officers receive and for support with resources along with access to the ICE data center. And there was another program that we were able to end thanks to the efforts of the immigrant community in Frederick and at the state level. There was another program that the sheriff was involved with, where there was more money coming into the detention center. The center was basically being rented out so that people who were being processed by ICE could stay there in the detention center and basically use it as, like a federal jail and they decided to pay in the hundreds of dollars for each night they spent there, and there for sure, were being given money. But thanks to local efforts, we managed to end that program two years ago.

15:07 – 15:38
María Cáceres
And there is some possibility that this program, this cooperation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Frederick County Sheriff's Office could be terminated if it is proven, well, and there are also cases that you have won. Sergio, obviously there are aspects that are proven, right? But if everything you are exposing about Sheriff Jenkins' actions is proven,

15:38 – 15:48
Sergio España
Yes, there are two ways. The easiest way is that the sheriff could end the program whenever he wants. That is completely mandatory. The bailiff can terminate the lease at any time.

15:49 – 16:14
María Cáceres
Next week we continue with the second part of this interview with Sergio España, director of Mobilization at the ACLU. Here in your family Zol. (Song: María Esther Cáceres, in your family Zol 107.9)

16:14 – 16:39
Neydin Milián
This has been another episode of Thinking Freely. For more information, visit aclu-md.org and be sure to listen to WLZL El Zol 107.9 FM. This podcast was recorded on Piscataway land. I'm Neydin Milián, thanks for listening.

16:39 – 16:59
Nehemiah Bester
And for those still here, this is Nehemiah Bester closing it out in English. This has been another episode of Thinking Freely. If you want to learn more visit aclu-md.org and special thank you to El Zol 107.9FM for allowing us to reshare this interview. This podcast was recorded on Piscataway land. Thanks for listening.

Thinking Freely, ACLU of Maryland's podcast, informs Marylanders about what's happening politically – from the courts to the streets – so they can get involved and realize a more equitable Maryland for all. 

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