A federal immigration official criticized Howard County leaders Friday for a policy he said paved the way for the release of a Guatemalan man from police custody, allowing him to commit further crimes.

Howard County police arrested Walter Romeo Saloj-Pecher, 28, on Sept. 24 and charged him with second-degree assault, according to a news release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Later that day, the Baltimore Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, a unit of ICE, filed an immigration hold with Howard County for Saloj-Pecher. But officials at the county detention center refused to honor it and released him on an unspecified date, the news release said.

Agents with the ERO’s Fugitive Operations Team subsequently arrested Saloj-Pecher on August 14 in Hyattsville and charged him with assault and robbery, the press release said.

A post on X from the Baltimore ERO states that refusing to detain and release Saloj-Pecher to reoffend in a neighboring county was “unfortunate.” In the tweet, the ERO tags the social media account of Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.

“This incident is particularly unfortunate because a county’s refusal to cooperate with ERO apparently resulted in the suspect committing a subsequent crime in an adjacent county,” Matthew Elliston, acting Field Office Director for ERO Baltimore, said in the X-post.

Howard County spokesperson Safa Hira responded by saying that local law enforcement and authorities are prohibited under county law from assisting ICE in enforcing immigration laws.

Hira said the province “is not currently participating and has never participated in the 287(g) program.”

The 287(g) program is a local and federal partnership that allows local law enforcement agencies to detain illegal immigrants and enforce immigration policies. In 2020, the county passed the Liberty Act, which prohibits the use of county resources for the following actions unless required by federal or state law:

• Enforcement of federal immigration and nationality laws or assistance in the enforcement of immigration laws.
• Assist in enforcement by collecting or sharing someone’s data.
• Asking someone questions about his or her citizenship, nationality, or immigration status, or about the status of another person.
• Sharing one’s status with another person.

“Howard County also may not discriminate on the basis of citizenship, national origin or immigration status under the code,” Hira said. “County police may enforce state and local criminal laws and assist federal law enforcement, except in immigration enforcement. Police may also serve on criminal task forces, even if a task force includes immigration enforcement, as long as county resources are not diverted to such enforcement and the police comply with other requirements of the law.”

In the 2022 general election, voters in Howard reaffirmed their support for the Liberty Act, with over 64% voting in favor of the measure.

During the Trump administration, Ball, a Democrat, spoke out against stricter immigration regulations. In 2019, he issued a statement in response to potential raids by ICE officials targeting undocumented immigrant communities for mass deportations.

“I want to reiterate our position: the Howard County Sheriff’s Office does not and will not assist ICE in enforcing civil violations of federal immigration laws,” he said at the time. “Officers in Howard County do not ask residents about their immigration status or contact ICE when they learn of a civil violation of federal immigration laws.”

Ball also sent a letter to the Biden administration transition team emphasizing the need for changes in immigration enforcement.

Saloj-Pecher’s history with the U.S. Immigration Service dates back to 2013.

U.S. Border Patrol arrested Saloj-Pecher on Jan. 31, 2013, after he illegally entered the country near Falfurrias, Texas, the release said. Border Patrol officers issued Saloj-Pecher a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. Saloj-Pecher was then transferred to ERO Houston on Feb. 1, 2013. Later that day, ERO Houston transferred custody of Saloj-Pecher to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Baytown, Texas.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement released Saloj-Pecher on March 25, 2013. On August 5, 2014, an immigration judge for the Department of Justice in Baltimore ordered Saloj-Pecher to be deported and returned to Guatemala.

Montgomery County police issued an arrest warrant for Saloj-Pecher on October 24, 2023, on charges of robbery, second-degree assault, and theft under $100.

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In December, the Maryland District Court in Howard County convicted Saloj-Pecher of second-degree assault. He was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by 12 months of supervised probation before sentencing.

The court subsequently suspended four years and 364 days of the prison sentence, the press release said.

At some point, Saloj-Pecher was released from jail and rearrested on August 14 in Hyattsville. He remains in ERO custody.

“Walter Romeo Saloj-Pecher has not only shown disdain for U.S. immigration laws, he has also attacked a member of our Maryland community,” Elliston said in the release.