ROCKVILLE, Md. — One of Maryland's largest counties will no longer interfere in deportation efforts for undocumented migrants charged with violent crimes.
Recently the Montgomery County Detention Center was criticized for releasing Nilson Granados-Trejo from custody, despite Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filing a detainer to hold him.
Trejo, who was illegally in the United States from El Salvador, would later become one of three suspects charged in the murder of 2-year-old Jeremy Poou-Caceres in Prince George's County.
ICE said Montgomery County twice refused to cooperate with detainers for Trejo last year, even though he'd been ordered to be deported back in 2022.
Last month following the murder of Poou-Caceres, Montgomery County executives agreed to cooperate and honor ICE detainers for violent offenders unlawfully in the country.
On March 11 the Montgomery County Detention Center handed over its first two offenders to ICE.
In both cases the individuals crossed into the U.S. illegally, and were charged with sexually abusing children.
“We are extremely happy to be working with our law enforcement partners in Montgomery County toward safer neighborhoods,” said ERO Baltimore Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “I will reiterate that ERO Baltimore is looking to apprehend and remove the most egregious noncitizen offenders. The two detainees that we took custody of were both charged with sexually abusing Maryland minors. Sex offenders are certainly not the types of people that the residents of Montgomery County want roaming their streets.”
