LETTER: Montgomery County Shouldn't Suffer For Its Sanctuary Status

The following letter to the editor was submitted to Patch by Kimberly McCollum. To submit a letter to the editor, please email justin.heinze@patch.com.

Dear Editor:

I’m writing to express my concern that Montgomery County’s federal funding could be cut, and the County could face wrongful lawsuits from people detained without a court order. This will affect our infrastructure, education, housing, and health services. This will also affect tax payers. Why would this happen? Because Montgomery County is a sanctuary city, and believes detaining people without a warrant or court orders is a violation of the 4th amendment. Montgomery County has constitutional values. Tax payers should not pay for the wrongdoings of ICE police.

I met with State Legislator Kate Harper to determine how she would protect funding of Montgomery County and the tax payers from these potential lawsuits. Her answers were disappointing. I read aloud a letter I personally wrote her. In it, I stated that currently we have an immigration policy based on ideology rather than research and intelligence. Research has shown that undocumented immigrants commit less crime than natural born citizens, and that undocumented immigrants contribute billions to our GDP. In addition, immigration from Mexico has dropped over the last decades.

I asked Kate if I could count on her to condemn legislation that targets immigrants. She gave no clear answer, but instead followed party line ideologies about illegals breaking the law. She gave no consideration to the citizens that live in Montgomery County. Again, we could have limited health services, education, housing, and roads if she votes yes on defunding our constitutional county. I proceeded to ask, can I count on you to base policy that affects us all on research and intelligence, rather than ideologies and misconceptions? Can I count on you to vote against a budget that would advance enforcement initiatives at the local and state levels? Again, no clear answer.

I would like to see elected officials concerned about the counties they govern instead of following ideologies. I would be interested to see if as a local solicitor Kate has potential gains from Montgomery County lawsuits. I urge your readers to contact State Legislator Kate Harper and urge her to vote no on the defunding of Montgomery County.

-Kimberly McCollum

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