Prince George’s County officials and President Donald Trump’s administration are in dispute about immigration policies after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused the county of failing to notify them before releasing a man with a prior conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
The Prince George’s County Department of Corrections released Rene Pop-Chub, a 32-year-old Guatemalan national, from custody on April 8, according to an ICE Baltimore news release issued Tuesday. ICE arrested Pop-Chub in Hyattsville on Saturday, the statement read.
ICE Baltimore said in the statement that the corrections department declined to follow an immigration detainer request from ICE by releasing Pop-Chub. He is pending charges for offenses including murder, second degree assault and reckless endangerment, according to the release.
An immigration detainer is a request from ICE that asks federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to alert them before they release people who’ve entered the country illegally, and to hold them for up to 48 hours past ordinary release time to give the Department of Homeland Security time to assume custody, according to ICE.
But according to acting county executive Tara Jackson, ICE was alerted by the county’s corrections department before Pop-Chub’s release.
“Contrary to any suggestion that ICE was denied access — an ICE agent on-site the day of Mr. Pop-Chub’s release did communicate with [county corrections department] staff,” Jackson wrote in a statement Tuesday.
[Federal government revokes visas from some UMD international students]
The county corrections department release team told an ICE agent they could wait in the lobby of the corrections facility and pick up Pop-Chub there, Jackson’s statement read. The team told ICE that agents would not be allowed to enter the building’s higher-security area, according to Jackson’s statement.
The White House on Tuesday also issued a statement responding to the situation, in which Trump reinforced the claim that the county failed to comply with ICE’s request and blamed the county’s “insane ‘sanctuary’ policies.”
Prince George’s County is a sanctuary jurisdiction, meaning its local authorities do not question residents about their immigration status and separate themselves from federal immigration enforcement, according to the county’s immigration resources page.
Many sanctuary policies aim to limit local officials’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities to help protect immigrant communities, according to the American Immigration Council.
The White House statement cites local representatives including Jackson and former county executive and current U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks defending these sanctuary policies and criticizing federal immigration enforcement.
[Here’s how PGCPS officials are preparing for ICE officers in schools]
According to ICE Baltimore’s statement, Prince George’s County police first arrested Pop-Chub on Aug. 19, 2024, and charged him with first-degree assault. ICE Baltimore submitted an immigration detainer request to the county’s corrections department in October 2024.
Pop-Chub allegedly pushed his brother during an argument in August 2024 and caused him to hit his head, according to WUSA9. His brother died from the injuries two weeks later, prompting Pop-Chub’s involuntary manslaughter charges.
Before that, U.S. Border Patrol arrested Pop-Chub in 2013 and 2017, and removed him from the U.S. to Guatemala after both arrests, the statement said.
After taking Pop-Chub into custody Saturday, ICE Baltimore issued a notice of intent to reinstate his previous order of removal, according to the statement. He is currently being held by the U.S. Marshals Service.
“Prince George’s County remains committed to working with our federal partners within the bounds of the law and in a manner that protects the constitutional rights of all individuals in our custody,” Jackson wrote in Tuesday’s statement.
