A federal immigration enforcement official on Friday criticized Howard County leaders for policies he says cleared the way for a Guatemalan man’s release from police custody, allowing him to commit further crimes.
The Howard County Police Department first arrested Walter Romeo Saloj-Pecher, 28, on Sept. 24, and charged him with assault in the second degree, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release.
Later that day, the Baltimore office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, a unit of ICE, lodged an immigration detainer with Howard County for Saloj-Pecher. But the county’s detention center officials refused to honor it and released him from custody on an unknown date, the news release says.
Officers from the ERO’s Fugitive Operations Team next arrested Saloj-Pecher on Aug. 14 in Hyattsville, and charged him with assault and robbery, according to the news release.
A posting on X by the Baltimore ERO says refusing the detainer and releasing Saloj-Pecher to re-offend in a neighboring county was “unfortunate,” tagging Howard County Executive Calvin Ball’s social media account in the tweet.
“This incident is particularly unfortunate in that one county’s refusal to cooperate with ERO apparently resulted in the suspect committing a subsequent crime in a neighboring county,” ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston said in the X post.
In response, Howard County spokesperson Safa Hira said local law enforcement and authorities are prohibited by county code from assisting ICE in immigration enforcement.
Hira said the county currently “does not participate and has never participated in the 287(g) program.”
The 287(g) program is a local and federal partnership that allows local law enforcement agencies to hold undocumented immigrants and enforce immigration policies. In 2020, the county passed the Liberty Act, which prohibits using county resources for the following actions, unless federal or state law requires it:
- Enforcing federal immigration and nationality laws or assisting immigration enforcement.
- Helping enforcement by collecting or sharing a person’s information.
- Asking a person about their citizenship, nationality, or immigration status or the status of another person.
- Sharing a person’s status with another person.
“Howard County is also prohibited by code from discriminating against a person based on their citizenship, nationality, or immigration status,” Hira said. “County police can enforce state and local criminal laws and assist federal law enforcement other than their immigration actions. The police can also work on criminal task forces, even if a task force includes immigration enforcement, if county resources are not used for such enforcement and the police follow the other requirements of the law.”
In the 2022 general election, Howard voters reaffirmed support for the Liberty Act with more than 64% voting in favor of the measure.
During the Trump administration, Ball, a Democrat, spoke out against tougher immigration policies. In 2019, he released a statement in response to potential raids by ICE officials targeting undocumented immigrant communities for mass deportations.
“I want to reiterate our continued position: Howard County Police do not and will not assist ICE in the enforcement of civil violations of federal immigration laws,” he stated at the time. “Officers in Howard County do not ask residents about their immigration status, nor do they contact ICE if they learn of a civil violation of federal immigration laws.”
Ball also sent a letter to the Biden Administration Transition Team emphasizing the need for changes to immigration enforcement operations.
Meanwhile, Saloj-Pecher’s history with U.S. immigration officials dates back to 2013.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested Saloj-Pecher on Jan. 31, 2013, after he unlawfully entered the country near Falfurrias, Texas, the news release states. Border patrol officials served Saloj-Pecher with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. Saloj-Pecher was then transferred to ERO Houston on Feb. 1, 2013. Later that day, ERO Houston transferred custody of Saloj-Pecher to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Baytown, Texas.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement released Saloj-Pecher from custody on March 25, 2013. On Aug. 5, 2014, a Department of Justice immigration judge in Baltimore ordered Saloj-Pecher removed from the country and sent back to Guatemala.
The Montgomery County Police Department filed a warrant for Saloj-Pecher’s arrest on Oct. 24, 2023, for charges of robbery, assault in the second degree and theft less than $100.
In December the District Court of Maryland in Howard County convicted Saloj-Pecher for assault in the second degree. He was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by 12 months of supervised probation before judgment.
The court then suspended four years and 364 days of the prison sentence, the news release states.
At some point, Saloj-Pecher was released from jail and rearrested on Aug. 14 in Hyattsville. He remains in ERO custody.
“Walter Romeo Saloj-Pecher has not only displayed a disregard for U.S. immigration laws, he has also assaulted a member of our Maryland community,” Elliston stated in the news release.
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