Councilwoman warned about ICE agents who were actually undercover cops in predator sting
HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (7News) — A Howard County, Maryland, councilwoman said she was merely trying to warn her community about an immigration enforcement operation, but instead, it turned out to be an undercover sting targeting child sex predators.
"This was a bunch of unmarked cars, not completely identifiable law enforcement," said Liz Walsh, the Howard County District 1 councilmember.
She is defending herself on Tuesday about the post she put on Facebook over the weekend.
The post said, 'We're hearing that there is an ICE operation happening in Howard County by the Verona Apartments in Oakland Mills, behind the village center. They expect a bus from Thunder Hill Elementary School to be the target. LA Mart and the elementary school have been notified. Please stay safe folks.'
"We were hoping to let people know who are in that area, particularly parents who might have had kids on one of those buses," she said.
Jamie Flynn, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in the county, said the post put officers at risk and may have also allowed child predators to evade arrest.
"It was unverified, it was inaccurate, it was not the case, it was an undercover operation that ended up being compromised because of this chaos," Flynn said. "Obviously tensions are high throughout the nation right now, and we feel it is our job to lower that temperature, so to speak, and we feel equally it is a politician's job to lower it as well."
Howard County Police Chief Greg Der told 7News no officers involved in the operation were hurt.
But he is concerned about any false information that could compromise public safety or endanger his officers.
Walsh later told 7News she does not feel that the Facebook post interfered with the operation to arrest sex offenders.
"No one knew it was that until a day later," she said through her chief of staff later on Tuesday. "We were there the same afternoon and saw no sign of it. If anything, we were giving them cover."
But she does believe ICE is in Howard County, and people should do something.
"What we need to do now is prepare for that and organize as local government and as a community in terms of how do we respond to that in a way that’s best for everyone: for local law enforcement, for people who live here, for everyone," she said.
She said it was not her intent to attract anti-ICE demonstrators to the area, only to warn people that ICE was there.
Here is a statement she provided.
7 News reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ask if they are currently operating in Howard County. We'll keep you posted.
