Mauricio R. Arellano and three friends were eager to get to Charles Town, W.Va. last December. They planned to spend a few hours gambling together at the casino.Since some of the men had been drinking before they left their houses in Anne Arundel County, Arellano, who was sober, agreed to drive. That decision ended up landing him in jail.
As the men headed west on U.S. 340 at about 11:30 p.m., they were stopped by a deputy with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
Why?
The car Arellano was driving had too many air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror, according to prosecutors.
Arellano's wife lives in the United States and has petitioned for him to emigrate from Mexico, said his friend Eduardo Lopez. At the time of his arrest, Arellano was visiting her on a temporary visa. He showed his Mexican driver's license and his international driver's license, a document the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration recognizes as providing legal authority to operate a vehicle.
Despite having those documents, Arellano was handcuffed and taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center on charges he didn't have proper identification.
His friends drove back to Anne Arundel County and returned to Frederick County with enough money to post his $2,000 bail.
As Arellano stood outside the Frederick County courthouse in March, he said he believes he was stopped because he is Hispanic. He thinks police wanted to find out if he was in the country legally.
"(The officer) found an excuse to stop me," Arellano said.
How many people get stopped for having too many air fresheners, he asked.
His passengers, all of whom are Hispanic, were also asked to show identification. All three had Maryland driver's licenses and were not arrested.
Now, as the Frederick County Sheriff's Office works toward a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local leaders fear Hispanic residents may become targets of unnecessary traffic stops.
The sheriff's office has applied to participate in 287(g), a program that allows local law enforcement officers to request proof of citizenship in certain circumstances. For example, officers can ask for identification when conducting traffic stops or arresting criminal suspects.
Through the program, police can also begin deportation procedures for people they find to be living in the United States illegally.
Guy Djoken, president of the Frederick branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said members have questions about how the authority will be used. While they support deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, they want to ensure the civil rights of Hispanic residents are not violated.
Some people seem to confuse being Hispanic with being an illegal immigrant or a criminal, Djoken said.
"We are afraid if (the deputies are granted the authority), they might end up stopping people based on how they look," he said.
A study by The Frederick News-Post published in March found that Hispanic and black residents are more likely to be searched than white residents, and in many cases those searches are unnecessary.
To help ensure profiling doesn't occur, members of the Frederick County branch of the NAACP will meet today with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Charles Jenkins said he is confident profiling will not take place.
"We teach that stops are not based on sex, gender and race but on probable cause," he said. "That won't change."
If the sheriff's office is accepted into the ICE program, deputies also will receive several weeks of training to learn how to avoid profiling when determining legal status.
Richard Rocha, an ICE spokesman, said the agency could not comment on the status of the sheriff office's application. ICE won't be accepting any more agencies until its funding for fiscal 2008 is approved.
Rocha wasn't familiar with the specifics of the training, but said it does cover how to avoid profiling. Should a deputy be found to be racially profiling, his authority to ask legal status could be terminated.
He could not say if whether other penalties are possible.
The program focuses on people who have been arrested, either during a traffic stop or as suspects in a crime, Rocha said. Passengers or people who are with a suspect, however, can also be questioned if a deputy suspects they might be in the country illegally.
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