Councilmember Marc Elrich Releases Statement About Deportation of Claros-Saravia Brothers
County Councilmember Marc Elrich
Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich has released a statement on the deportation of Lizandro Claros-Saravia and his brother Diego who lived in Gaithersburg and were deported to El Salavador last week.
“The deportation of the Claros-Saravia brothers is a tragic situation and a waste of public resources. Our tax dollars should not have been used to find these young people and send them away from our country, where they worked and studied and were a part of our community. I’m a second generation American myself. They were following a path that was laid out by our grandparents and great-grandparents who came here and became successful and productive members of society. These two young people were models for the immigrant community and examples of success for everyone to see.
“This is more clear evidence that the regime of this President is guided by no other purpose than hate. This move does not make us safer, instead, it jeopardizes our safety. As Chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee, I know that our county, and other jurisdictions around the country, have worked hard to build trust between local government and the immigrant community. The trust is especially critical in the area of public safety where we rely on the whole community to partner with us to ensure that all of us are safe. With this deportation, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has sent a clear message: by stepping forward, following the procedures and with the most innocent of intention, can lead to your deportation. ICE’s action jeopardizes the trust that we rely on in working with the immigrant community. In fact, it actually helps “the bad guys: because it will likely make people more fearful of stepping forward to help those who work to make our community safer. It’s hard to think of something worse that ICE could have done, if their interest truly was to enhance public safety. I don’t know if we can do anything at this moment to rescue these two young men, but it is important to know what has happened and know that it is wrong. We should certainly ask our federal representatives to pressure the administration to reverse itself and to put its energy into that which makes us safer.”
Leggett Speaks Out Against Deportation of Montgomery County Resident
The success of those two young men is nice, but they refused every opportunity to correct their illegal status. They were brought into the country will forged documents and were asked to leave the country. This should have triggered a desire to correct their immigration status. They made the decision not to, that resulted in their deportations.
Perplexing that our elected officials are advocating ignoring our laws and rules to accommodate these young men and their families who made some very poor decisions. Ehrlich, Leggett and others, if you feel this strongly then get out in the community and help versus pontificating afterwards. Donate your time and money in assisting and helping others to become legal. Stop blaming the system get out and help, or step down and get out of the way.
As a life long resident of Montgomery County and former law enforcement officer – I feel for the community that we serve. But as a law enforcement officer – the law, every law has a purpose if not it would be repealed. They are here illegally. They were given the benefits of a Montgomery County school education – at taxpayers cost. Let them use that knowledge to apply to legally return.
I’ve read a few articles about this issue and none of them give a clear account that a person with a clear head could possibly follow. I see the video, with the mother, crying about her boys. Is the mother here legally? I assume so, otherwise she would be deported too. If the mother is here legally then I don’t see how the boys could be deported. Something smells on all sides of this issue. The news is using this family to say “See, look how bad the president is.” But that’s not the entire story, it can’t be. There are a lot of problems and, like it or not, the president is trying hard to change things. I bet, if all was told, this family was given bad advice on how to legally proceed. That’s the real tragedy here. It feels like they were setup to make a news story. I hope the situation is temporary and the family is reunited soon.