Monday night in the final minutes of the O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly mentioned that he would cover a “horrendous story out of Maryland” in the next airing of his show. This was surely a reference to the violent rape of a 14-year old girl at Rockville High School. The crime is alleged to have been committed by two illegal aliens, Jose Montano, 17, from El Salvador, and Henry Sanchez-Millian, 18, from Guatemala, who are currently 9th graders at the school. The story is gaining international coverage in the UK Daily Mail.
This increased media scrutiny comes at a crucial moment when the Maryland state legislature is attempting to make the Old Line State into a sanctuary haven for illegal aliens by means of a bill known as the Maryland Law Enforcement and Governmental Trust Act (HB 1362 and SB 0835) that was authored by Delegate Marice Morales of Montgomery County. If enacted into law, this bill would prevent Maryland law enforcement officers from honoring ICE detainer requests to hold illegal aliens for pickup by ICE agents for up to 48 hours when the illegal aliens have been arrested or released after serving a sentence—unless the ICE detainer is accompanied by a specific warrant.
This horrific crime allegedly took place only last Thursday, and the Rockville Superintendent of Schools called for a PTA meeting for concerned citizens at Rockville High School on March 21. But the Maryland state delegates nevertheless saw fit to take a vote on Monday to pass the Maryland Trust Act by a tally of 83 to 55.
The town of Rockville held a legislative hearing earlier this month on a measure to codify Rockville’s sanctuary policies into law. If it passes, Rockville will join Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in formalizing its practice of ignoring ICE detainers and refusing to share any kind of information about the immigration status of illegal aliens with the federal government. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman recently vetoed a sanctuary measure, but then implemented the sanctuary measures “by policy” but not by law.
In another Fox News report aired Monday evening, Bret Baier interviewed Daniel McHugh, the Chair of the Montgomery County Young Republicans. McHugh noted the increase in MS-13 gang activity in Montgomery County and stated that, “Higher taxes, lowered educational standards, and higher crime is what we’ve faced in Montgomery County as a result of pro-illegal immigration policies put forth by the county government and even by the state.”
FAIR’s analysis of the Maryland budget backs up Mr. McHugh’s statement. A FAIR study in 2010 found that the state of Maryland spent $1.9 billion on programs for illegal aliens pertaining to education, health care, administration of justice and law enforcement, public assistance, and general government services. That year, illegal aliens paid in only $119 million in taxes, thus leaving Maryland taxpayers on the hook for $1.74 billion.
To put these figures in perspective, the net cost of $1.74 billion works out to a fiscal burden of $910 per native-born household in Maryland in 2010. This shortfall came at a time during 2010-2011 when the Maryland budget was $32 billion and the total state debt was $40.6 billion, according to Ballotpedia.
For the safety and economic well-being of everyone in the Old Line State, the Maryland State Senate should reject the so-called Maryland Trust Act that endangers public safety, undermines federal immigration law, rewards law-breaking, encourages more illegal immigration, and cheats those who immigrate to America legally.