MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — The recent arrests of undocumented immigrants has sparked a clash between federal immigration authorities and Montgomery County officials.
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that a Derwood Church teacher arrested and charged with sexually abusing at least four girls between 2016-2018 had been deported twice before.
Ervin Alfaro-Lopez, 33, is facing multiple sexual offenses, for allegedly inappropriately touching his students at the Elim Church when the kids were in the dark watching movies or when they had their eyes closed for prayer.
According to ICE, they had been aware that Alfaro-Lopez had entered the country unlawfully since he was arrested in March 2015.
"ERO Baltimore arrested Alfaro Lopez on Jan. 23, 2019," ICE said. "The DOJ immigration judge granted Alfaro Lopez a voluntary departure from the U.S. within 60 days of April 16, 2019. He left the U.S. on April 30, 2019."
Alfaro Lopez was apprehended again on March 9, 2020 in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, after he came back into the country illegally, ICE said. Border Patrol processed him for expedited removal, and he was deported to El Salvador on March 24, 2020.
Later, at an unknown time and place, he re-entered the country again, ICE said.
Alfaro Lopez is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit.
Montgomery County-based immigration lawyer Jose Campos said it's virtually impossible for federal immigration authorities to track every person who enters the country illegally.
However, this time around, Campos says Alfaro-Lopez is facing a harsher penalty.
"This guy is not going anywhere. He's going to pay for his crime here and then he's going to get deported again," Campos said.
ICE says last year, when Alfaro Lopez was arrested and charged with rape, they requested that Montgomery County hold him to start his third deportation hearing, but he was released.
Recently ICE has come down on Montgomery County officials accusing them of refusing to honor detainers so they can deport immigrants convicted of crimes.
Among those cases, is the arrest of Nilson Granados-Trejo, charged in the deadly shooting that killed a toddler in Langley Park last month.
Montgomery County's Executive says Granados Trejo was arrested for theft last year in his jurisdiction. The crime was considered minor and did not meet the threshold requirements for which the county doesn't enforce ICE detainers.
In late February, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich pledged to cooperate with federal immigration authorities by giving more than 48 hours notice to ICE agents seeking to deport a list of convicted serious criminals in county custody, according to Dr. Earl Stoddard, the Assistant County Administrator in charge of public safety.
Many have blamed Montgomery County's "sanctuary jurisdiction" policies for the release of dangerous criminals back into the streets, but officials insist otherwise.
Montgomery County's website states:
Montgomery County's policy is not to inquire about anyone's immigration status, nor does the County conduct any immigration enforcement or investigations. We believe that this is the right balance for this County. Montgomery County is not a "sanctuary" jurisdiction. Local police and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation work cooperatively with ICE in their work on immigration and customs violations and drug and human trafficking. The County's arrest and detention information goes to the State and all State information is accessed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through their Secure Communities initiative.
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