Good evening, Mayor Newton and Council.

Thank you for taking comments on this important

issue. My name is Carol Schlenker, I live at 12902 Ardennes Avenue in Twinbrook, 20851, and I
wholeheartedly support this ordinance.

Ive been a volunteer at the Catholic Charities program at the Montgomery County Family
Justice Center here in Rockville since 2009. For those who arent familiar, the FJC is a
collaboration of public and private county agencies providing services to families affected by
domestic violence, co-located in a single, family-friendly space. My role there is to interview
immigrant survivors of domestic violence to determine whether they qualify for relief under the
Violence Against Women Act or for U visas. The vast majority of people I see are women, and at
least half of them are undocumented. They may have crossed the border without inspection, or
they may have flown here on a fiance visa, only to lose status when, as part of the abuse, their
U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse refused to file for their green card.

The U visa is particularly ingenious. An undocumented immigrant who helps law enforcement to
investigate and prosecute certain violent crimes may qualify for this visa, if law enforcement
certifies that they were helpful. Its no coincidence that some of the U visa qualifying crimes
abduction, assault, kidnapping, rape, and murder are the same crimes that, when committed by
another undocumented immigrant a bad hombre, if you will -- disqualify him from the
protection offered by the proposed ordinance. Its also no coincidence that the main agencies at
the FJC are law enforcement, specifically the MCPD and States Attorneys Office. These
experienced professionals understand that trust between them and the community makes their
jobs much easier. That trust allows local law enforcement, together with FJC partner agencies, to
break the cycle of violence in the home and prevent its spread to the wider community. Unlike
the ham-handed executive orders being issued from Washington, this policy of mutual trust is
based on evidence and experience and was thoughtfully developed in partnership with key
stakeholders. That evidence may have included FBI statistics showing that more than half of all
mass murderers including the Orlando night club and Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood
shooters had a prior history of domestic abuse. As one article put it, Intimate partner violence
and the toxic masculinity that fuels it are the canaries in the coal mine for understanding public
terror, and ye this connection continues largely to be ignored, to everyones endangerment.

Opponents of this ordinance frame as a choice between crime and law-and-order, or pit
undocumented immigrants against those who hold legal status. Based on my 7+ years
volunteering at FJC, this is not only wrong, its dangerous. Our city and county should not
discourage undocumented women and men from reporting domestic violence and other violent
crimes, for their safety, their childrens, and our entire communitys. Under our current unofficial
policy, we dont have to choose between public safety and protecting the rights of otherwise law-
abiding undocumented immigrants. This enlightened, effective, local policy is now under threat,
and for that reason I urge the Mayor and Council to protect all peace-loving residents of
Rockville and codify it into our City Code. Thank you.

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