Roscoe Bartlett

U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a Republican, joined 53 other lawmakers in sending a letter to President Barack Obama this week, arguing local jurisdictions should have broad discretion in immigration enforcement.

The letter comes as the Obama administration has just completed revised, standardized agreements in all 57 jurisdictions that participate in the program, including the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

Specifically, Bartlett said local law enforcement should be able to check immigration status of those arrested, including nonviolent offenders.

The new guidelines for the program do not restrict those types of offenses, but the administration has placed higher priority on applying immigration law against violent offenders.

"If you limit it to crimes of violence, this doesn't provide the deterrent that I believe the present program provides," he said.

Critics of the program think broad powers with limited supervision could lead to racial profiling, with police pursuing minor offenses just to check immigration status.

Of 284 criminal charges processed through Frederick County's program in 2008, nearly half were driving without a license, a 2008 sheriff's office report stated.

Bartlett said he does not consider driving without a license to be a minor offense. Jaywalking would be a better example of a minor offense, he said.

"As far as I know, our local sheriff's department is bending over backwards to not appear to be profiling," he said.

Bartlett said he wants to send the message that illegal immigrants will probably be able to stay in the country, unless they break the laws.

He thinks keeping the law broad will keep illegal immigrants from speeding more than 10 miles over the speed limit, driving without a license, driving while drunk, or getting involved in more serious crimes.

"This law, I think, has been very effective in encouraging the vast number of them to be exemplary residents in our country," Bartlett said.

The new agreements were intended to standardize the program across the country, and provide more federal oversight. They also contain language that encourages law enforcement to follow through on charges that initially brought about an arrest.

Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security visited Frederick on Thursday to deliver a revised, signed agreement between the sheriff and the federal government.

That agreement, known as 287(g) for the law that created the program, allows trained sheriff's deputies and correctional officers to check immigration status -- a power otherwise restricted to the federal government.

The Frederick News-Post has submitted a Public Information Act request for a copy of the revised agreement.

Sheriff Chuck Jenkins stated in a press release Friday that the new agreement will have "no impact" on his program.

That's because the office has had a supervisor from Immigration and Customs Enforcement assigned to it from the inception of the program, Jenkins said.

Capt. Tim Clarke, who has been tasked by the sheriff to implement the county's immigration enforcement program, said the agreement changed little in part because Frederick County only recently started participating in 287(g).

From the program's inception in April 2008 to mid-October of this year, the county sheriff's office has processed 500 criminal aliens, the press release stated.

Bartlett said he was glad to hear the new regulations will not change the sheriff's program. Frederick County is the only jurisdiction in Maryland that has signed a 287(g) agreement.

"Our county and our sheriff has kind of led the fight in this, and I think they're doing a very good job," Bartlett said.