Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger is updating Montgomery’s written police directives on the hot-button topic of immigration, which will likely spark discussion in perhaps the region’s friendliest jurisdiction to illegal immigrants.

“He wants to be clear to employees and to our residents what our mission is,” police spokesman Lt. Paul Starks said.

Rough drafts of the document confirm The Examiner’s recent report that Montgomery prohibits local officers from taking part in any federal work-site raids where the sole purpose is arresting people on immigration violations.

Montgomery  is the only Washington-area jurisdiction that does not automatically provide officers for perimeter support when federal immigration agents conduct such raids.

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Spokeswoman Lucille Baur has said the policy exists so no one thinks local police “conduct random raids that can result in the deportation of undocumented immigrants.” Officers could, however, assist federal immigration agents who are pursuing criminal charges as well as immigration violations, as they did last summer when they provided perimeter support during the El Pollo Rico bust in Wheaton. The restaurant’s owners were ultimately convicted of criminal charges including money laundering and conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants.

The directive is also expected to remind officers they cannot arrest an illegal immigrant unless it is in connection with a local crime or there is an existing federal warrant for the individual.

Manger, who has staunchly opposed the training that some nearby counties use to teach local police how to enforce federal immigration laws, is not heeding all requests of immigrant advocates, however.

Starks said the written policy would say that officers who come into contact with criminal suspects during an investigation will be able to ask the suspects about legal status if they cannot provide identification.

“We will not be indiscriminately stopping people and asking them about status; we will not be asking victims or witnesses about that,” Starks said. “We want that to be clear for everybody.”

He could not elaborate on what kinds of identification would be accepted before immigration status would be questioned nor when the updated directive would be issued to officers.

kmiller@dcexaminer.com