Takoma Park leaders, residents call for more information after reported ICE activity

Mayor Talisha Searcy opened Wednesday's Takoma Park City Council meeting by saying the city has received little advance notice about recent federal immigration enforcement actions and that staff and community groups are scrambling to support affected families.

"We get zero information about federal law enforcement that is happening in the city prior to it occurring," Searcy said, adding the city has focused on reaching impacted residents and coordinating multilingual outreach through partners.

City Manager Desperto told the council federal agencies "typically do not provide the city with any advance notice" of planned immigration enforcement and that staff's requests for notification have often gone unanswered. He described variations in federal agents' appearance and identification practices and said Takoma Park municipal code bars city employees from enforcing federal immigration laws or questioning residents' immigration status except where required by law.

Members of the public urged fuller, regular reporting and more training. Karen Elrich, a resident, described multiple, community‑confirmed sightings in late August and early September, saying, "On August 31 ... at least six vehicles, all with Texas plates, gathered behind the Best Buy furniture store on New York New Hampshire Avenue," and urged residents to document incidents and support mutual‑aid groups.

Ariel Woods, who lives on Conway Avenue, told the council she witnessed masked men and an August 18 car chase that ended with two people taken from under a deck; she and others asked the city to include confirmed sightings in police records and to make training and video evidence available when possible.

Councilmembers and staff emphasized a balance between transparency and protecting residents' privacy and safety. "It is very important when our city does release information to the public that we have some level of confidence that the facts are accurate and complete," Desperto said, explaining why the city hesitates to publish unverified reports.

The city said it has distributed "know your rights" cards and held bystander trainings with community partners including CASA and the Montgomery County Immigration Rights Collective. Councilmembers asked staff to explore ways to (1) include confirmed, anonymized incident information in crime summaries or newsletters; (2) expand multilingual trainings and outreach; and (3) improve mechanisms for residents to submit verifiable reports for follow-up. No new formal policy or directive was adopted at the meeting.

The council also noted the Supreme Court decision referenced by speakers was discussed in public comments as a catalyst for urgency, but no council action on that legal ruling was taken at the meeting. The city manager said the council selected Stinson LLP to perform an independent audit related to internal personnel complaints and expects that audit to be completed by year‑end.