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To the mayor and council of Rockville,

My name is Thomas Nephew, I live in Takoma Park Maryland, and Im here to speak for the passage of
proposed Fostering Community Trust ordinance 11-3.

I do so both as a Takoma Park resident who strongly supports my citys own, similar ordinance, and as
one of the co-founders of Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition, a citizen activist group with over a
thousand supporters in this county, including many in Rockville.

We all applaud you for taking on this issue in the face of mistaken arguments opponents make against
the ordinance. To once again rebut some of the many myths surrounding this issue:

Many opponents are simply wrong to claim the ordinance somehow privileges undocumented
immigrants over documented ones. No: Fostering Community Trust *protects* documented
immigrants, undocumented ones, and non-immigrants alike from being harassed by local
officials guessing at their immigration status.
Cities that commit to equal treatment and exercise their right not to engage in federal law
enforcement actually experience *less* crime than other cities
Our own county has experienced declining violent crime rates for the last 25 years even though
many immigrantsdocumented and undocumented alikehave come to live here.
The ordinance does nothing to protect those few immigrants who do commit crimes.

Turning to whats right about this ordinance for Rockville , I can point to whats been in it for Takoma
Park:

a police department that doesnt have to ever wonder if it will be deputized into doing a job it
shouldnt be doing
residents that can trust their police force regardless of their own immigration status and will
be all the readier to cooperate with police when crimes are committed.

Whats in it for our whole county, state, and country? For one thing, passing this ordinance will help
visibly hold the line against nativist rhetoric and hate speech.

The bigger picture may be even more important. For some very good reasons arising from this countrys
ugly racial history, the 14th Amendment settled a long time ago that all persons not citizens, but
personsin this country had a right to equal protection of the law; that no one could be singled out for
separate, unequal treatment because of some perceived defect in their humanity or legal status. When
you pass this ordinance, as I hope you do, youll be protecting and defending our Constitution; our civil
rights; and our human rights. It may be the most important thing you ever do. Thank you.

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