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Formation | 1985 |
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52-1372972 [1] | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |
Coordinates | 38°59′53″N76°59′39″W / 38.998193°N 76.9942981°W |
Services | Employment and workforce development; legal services; community organization; communication with political leaders [1] |
Gustavo Torres [2] | |
Rima Matsumoto [3] | |
Subsidiaries | CASA's Baltimore Workers' Center LLC; CASA's Wheaton Workers' Center LLC; CASA's Prince George's Workers' Center LLC; CASA Workers' Mansion LLC; CASA Multicultural Center Borrower LLC; CASA Multicultural Center MM Inc [1] |
Revenue (2014) | $7,907,782 [1] |
Expenses (2014) | $7,766,953 [1] |
Employees (2013) | 240 [1] |
Website | wearecasa |
Formerly called | Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland; CASA of Maryland, Inc.; CASA de Maryland [4] |
CASA (formerly CASA de Maryland) is a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization based in Maryland. It is active throughout the state, but has major foci in Prince George's County, Montgomery County and Baltimore. CASA influences Maryland politics on a wide range of policies, ranging from law-enforcement to education. [5] It also has offices in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
CASA was originally known as the "Central American Solidarity Association of Maryland". [4] The organization's name was officially changed to CASA of Maryland, Inc., on July 28, 1995. [4] The organization's name was officially changed to CASA de Maryland, Inc., on September 4, 2008. [4] Now, the organization is named CASA.
CASA was founded in 1985 in the basement of the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church by US citizens and Central American immigrants. It has since expanded its scope. [6] It is affiliate organization of the National Council of La Raza. [7] They are a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. [8] CASA is also a founding member of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, which promotes "comprehensive immigration reform". [9] [ failed verification ]
In June 2010, CASA opened a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) multicultural center in the heart of Langley Park and located in the former Langley Park mansion. [10] The project was budgeted at $31 million in 2007. Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said at the fundraising kickoff for the project, "In our Maryland, there's no such thing as a spare American". [11]
CASA offers health assistance, medical interpretations, English classes, financial literacy classes, vocational training, social services, leadership development, legal services, and employment placement for low-income families, particularly Latino immigrants and other immigrants. [5] CASA provides legal support to the large and growing community of immigrants—documented or otherwise—in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. They have successfully promoted a wide range of legislation in support of the immigrant community, including a Maryland law that requires reasonable access to government services for people with limited English proficiency. [12] CASA is very aggressive in pursuing absconding employers, contractors who do not pay their day-laborers. [13]
CASA is also involved in housing law and advocacy. In 2004, CASA attorney Kimberley A. Propeack told the Daily Record that the group's housing attorney represents immigrants who are targeted by landlords if they raise concerns or try to form residents' associations. [14] CASA has rescued a number of victims of domestic slavery, also known as human trafficking. [15]
CASA operates five day labor centers throughout the state of Maryland, with public and private funding; three centers are in Montgomery County. These centers, run by CASA on behalf of the county government under contract, provide central sites where contractors can pick up day-laborers. The centers have sparked protests and counter-protests. [16] The center near Shady Grove was damaged by a fire within its first month of operation; the fire was ruled to be arson and classified a "hate incident" by county police. [17] [18] The centers allow day laborers to seek work without violating Gaithersburg's anti-solicitation ordinance, a law that makes it a misdemeanor to conduct hires in public places. [19] Most of the opposition centers around the assumption that many of the day-laborers in Montgomery County are undocumented workers, mostly from Central America. [5]
CASA opened an employment center in Baltimore on December 20, 2007. The center is funded by foundations and Community Development Block Grant funds; renovation of the building housing the center was funded by the City of Baltimore and an anonymous donor. According to Maryland Secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Thomas Perez, "Labor centers are the most cost-effective investment of government money I can imagine ... We're providing employment, addressing public safety by creating an orderly process, keeping people from street corners and protecting workers." The opening was applauded by local labor groups, immigrant advocates, and city leaders. Local residents had been pushing for an alternative to street-corner hiring. [20]
CASA advocates for citizenship for migrant farmworkers in Maryland. [21]
CASA has received funding from a variety of sources, including a two-year grant funding operations in Baltimore from George Soros' Open Society Institute. [22] Other funding sources include the Annie E. Casey Foundation and United Way.[ citation needed ] CASA received $1.5 million from CITGO, the state-owned Venezuelan petroleum products corporation, in 2008 to fund educational, training, and economic-development programs. [23]
CASA works on many issues of concern to the immigrant community in Maryland, and as a result, CASA has been a source of controversy. Most of the controversy centers around allegations that the day-labor centers administrated by the group are primarily used by undocumented immigrants, who may not legally be employed in any capacity in the US. [5]
Montgomery County's award of contracts to develop day-labor centers near Gaithersburg to CASA ignited some controversy, including a case of arson. [16] [18]
The site, located outside both Gaithersburg and Rockville, was a service park behind a Department of Liquor Control warehouse, and was opened as a temporary location. Because of the site's location, the county had sole control over the site approval process; although the county Planning Board had to undertake a mandatory referral process, the planning rules allowed County Executive Isiah Leggett to make the ultimate decision. [24]
The site stirred worry in nearby Derwood and other communities. Some residents expressed concerns about the proposal.
In a letter to The Gazette, Brad Botwin announced that he was forming a group called Help Save Maryland because of "growing abuses of official power", specifically the day-labor center near Shady Grove. Botwin characterized the center as "a taxpayer-funded illegal worker pickup center on property slated for job-creating high-tech companies and a needed fire station." [25] Botwin, a member of the Shady Grove Advisory Committee and former co-president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance, was concerned over the center's impact on the sector plan implementation process. He said that the plan required extensive committee meetings and approvals, but Leggett did not use such processes in siting the center. [26]
Pat Labuda, president of the Greater Shady Grove Civic Alliance and also a member of the Shady Grove Advisory Committee, said "I think it's a problem that what Rockville and Gaithersburg don't want, Derwood gets". Like Botwin, Labuda was concerned about the center's impact on the sector plan. While Labuda supported the need for the facility, she expressed the wish that the county had discussed it with residents before choosing the site. [26]
A Gaithersburg resident task force that had studied the day-laborer situation supported the proposal. Cathy Drzyzgula, a member of that task force, called the proposal "a middle path, since it pleases neither extreme, but instead the larger share of people who hold moderate views on the issue" in a letter to The Gazette. [27]
In response to local immigration raids, CASA published a pamphlet with basic information about rights such as the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. According to The Washington Times , the pamphlet, "which features cartoonlike drawings of armed black and white police officers escorting Hispanic men in handcuffs and shows babies crying because their fathers are behind bars, is the product of CASA of Maryland Inc., working with other organizations." [28]
CASA director of community organizing and political action Kim Propeack said "We consider providing people with accurate information about their rights fundamentally important to the people we serve, the local community concerned about public safety, and to the national community, which has adopted a bill of rights". [28]
Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, a Republican, called the pamphlet "harmful to America" because it teaches illegal aliens "how to circumvent the law", and that CASA was "aiding and abetting criminal activity" by distributing it. [28]
Statements to The Gazette by Gustavo Torres, CASA's Executive Director, that CASA was determined to track the leadership of a local unit of Minuteman Project, caused controversy. The Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a non-governmental watchdog group, photographed and videotaped employers hiring workers at day-laborer sites run by CASA, with the intent of reporting the employers to state and Federal officials as violating immigration laws. Torres told The Gazette that CASA would target the Minutemen: "We are going picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work. If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant." [29] Torres later partially retracted this statement, saying that his threat to picket schools attended by Minuteman members' children was a "misunderstanding" made in anger. [30]
Steven Schreiman, president of the Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said "the threat shows an intent and it shows their mentality, and it shows them for what they are[...] They’re a bunch of thugs and bullies and they have a political agenda and they want to push that agenda regardless of the costs or consequences. Furthermore, they’ve threatened to go after us at our homes and our places of business, which is harassment." [30]
Kim Propeack, CASA spokeswoman, said "People should not expect in a modern society to engage in a campaign of intimidation without having a response", adding that if the Minutemen "want to come to CASA de Maryland, it's perfectly legitimate of us to go to the Minutemen's homes and also protest." [29]
CASA promotes community policing over local police enforcement of immigration enforcement, a power historically reserved to the federal government. Montgomery County officials expressed support for this notion, yet the government's inclusion, in 2002, of hundreds of thousands of names of people who had outstanding deportation orders into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database threatened to undermine Montgomery County's efforts. Ignoring a deportation order is an administrative violation, not a violation of criminal law; the NCIC is, by design, a database of criminal warrants. [31] Two police associations lobbied against the inclusion, saying that it would hinder cooperation from witnesses and victims of violent crimes who are in the country unlawfully. [31]
CASA advocated that the Montgomery County Department of Police ignore these civil detainers. "These are people who haven’t broken any laws other than getting a traffic ticket, and they’re being arrested and taken to jail", declared Kim Propeack, CASA director of community action. [32] At a meeting with Latino advocates in late June 2007, County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said that while he disagrees with the decision to put immigration detainers in NCIC, he believes police officers have no choice but to serve them. As a result, The Gazette reported, "the chief said he could not in 'good conscience' order his officers not to serve the warrants if he were told to ignore them by county officials. 'Get a new police chief when that happens,'" said Manger, who later clarified that he had no intent to leave. Manger, who was praised by Propeack for his accessibility, said that the immigration issue "breaks my heart." [33] As of June 2007 [update] , Montgomery County police were still checking, and honoring, the NCIC wants-and-warrants notifications, albeit with some reluctance as evidenced in this statement from Chief Manger: "It's very important for the local police department to develop strong relationships with the community[...] That trust is being jeopardized [31]
CASA's executive director Gustavo Torres said, "We dearly hope that the county re-evaluates its role serving as immigration police[...] The [county police's] enforcement of civil immigration law has severely damaged the faith of the immigration community in its county." [34] As of October 2007 [update] , Maryland did not have a consistent statewide policy on civil detainers. The Frederick County sheriff's office has deputies with specialized training in searching for undocumented immigrants, while the Prince George's County Police do not enforce immigration warrants as a matter of county policy. Takoma Park has a policy of being a "sanctuary city" and does not permit its police department to arrest people based on criminal immigration warrants. [34]
In October 2023, amid the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, CASA released a statement expressing solidarity with Palestinians and calling for an immediate ceasefire, and ended with the line, "Free Palestine NOW!". [35] CASA later retracted their statement on the war following criticism and issued an apology. [36] In an interview with Maryland Matters , CASA's executive director Gustavo Torres repeatedly expressed remorse and regret over the statement, but defended the statement by saying that CASA weighing in on the war in Gaza was consistent with its mission of "speaking out for humanity and peace". [35] CASA released a formal apology for the statement on November 16. [37]
Critics said the statement contained "antisemitic tropes and sentiments" and was denounced by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and several members of the Montgomery County Council. [36] [38] The Montgomery County Senate Delegation [39] and a group of Jewish lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly [40] also released statements condemning the organization's statement and suggested that the state may cease its multi-million dollar contracts with CASA. [39] The lawmakers' statements were condemned by the ACLU of Maryland, who called the threat of defunding "unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination". [40] [41]
In November 2023, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, CASA's largest private donor, announced that it would pull funding meant for the group following the letter, saying that it would redirect its donation "to another nonprofit committed to serving refugees and asylum seekers in Maryland". [41]
CASA has launched a variety of lawsuits. One such lawsuit was against the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to improve the administration of drivers licenses for out of country applicants. [42] [43] The lawsuit is ongoing, but is essentially mooted by implementation of the Federal Real ID Act of 2005. In response to Real ID, the Motor Vehicle Administration considered a two-tiered system, issuing Maryland drivers licenses and then another Real ID–compliant identification that would permit entry into Federal buildings and the boarding of airplanes. [44] Maryland, along with several other states, was given an extension of time to comply with Real ID requirements. Governor Martin O'Malley rejected the proposal, directing the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to phase in compliance with Real ID starting in 2010 [update] . CASA's Kim Propeack said "The administration is prioritizing political pandering over good policymaking" and that the governor "is ignoring all the support he's heard over the years for the system as it exists". [45]
In November 2008, CASA filed a Public Information Act lawsuit alleging that the Frederick County Sheriff's Office violated the Constitution and engaged in racial profiling by performing immigration law enforcement functions under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. "We're trying to shine a light on this program, which we feel has been kind of operating in the shadows," said Justin Cox, an attorney for CASA. "We have very strong anecdotal evidence of constitutional violations and racial profiling and the ultimate goal is to make sure the Sheriff's Office is being held accountable." [46]
Montgomery County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, and Germantown is the most populous place in the county. The county is adjoined to Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area and the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area. Most of the county's residents live in Silver Spring, Bethesda, Germantown, and the incorporated cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg.
Gaithersburg is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the ninth-most populous community in the state. Gaithersburg is located to the northwest of Washington, D.C., and is considered a suburb and a primary city within the Washington metropolitan area. Gaithersburg was incorporated as a town in 1878 and as a city in 1968.
Darnestown is a United States census-designated place (CDP) and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland. The CDP is 17.70 square miles (45.8 km2) with the Potomac River as its southern border and the Muddy Branch as much of its eastern border. Seneca Creek borders portions of its north and west sides. The Travilah, North Potomac, and Germantown census-designated places are adjacent to it, as is the city of Gaithersburg. Land area for the CDP is 16.39 square miles (42.4 km2). As of the 2020 census, the Darnestown CDP had a population of 6,723, while the village of Darnestown is considerably smaller in size and population. Downtown Washington, D.C. is about 22 miles (35 km) to the southeast.
Montgomery Village is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and a northern suburb of Washington, D.C. It is a large, planned suburban community, developed in the late 1960s and 1970s just outside Gaithersburg's city limits. Montgomery Village's population was 34,893 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, and it is a part of the Washington metropolitan area.
North Potomac is a census-designated place and unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is located less than 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the Potomac River, and is about 20 miles (32 km) from Washington, D.C. It has a population of 23,790 as of 2020.
Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous community in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia. Germantown is located approximately 28 miles (45 km) outside the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., and is an important part of the Washington metropolitan area.
Interstate 370 (I-370) is a 2.54-mile (4.09 km) Interstate Highway spur route off I-270 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to the western end of the Maryland Route 200 toll road at an interchange that provides access to the park and ride lot at the Shady Grove station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro. Despite the number, I-370 does not connect to I-70 itself. The road continues to the west of I-270 as Sam Eig Highway, a surface road. Along the way, I-370 has interchanges with MD 355 and Shady Grove Road. The freeway was completed in the late 1980s to connect I-270 to the Shady Grove station. I-370 was always part of the planned Intercounty Connector but was the only segment to be built at the time. The opening of MD 200 east of I-370 resulted in the truncation of I-370 to the interchange with MD 200 and the redesignation of the road leading into the Shady Grove station as MD 200A.
Maryland Route 200, also known as the Intercounty Connector or ICC, is an 18.8-mile (30.3 km) controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Maryland. It connects Gaithersburg in Montgomery County and Laurel in Prince George's County, both of which are suburbs of Washington, D.C. The ICC was one of the most controversial Maryland road projects; opposition to the highway stalled the project for decades, and construction did not begin until 60 years after the highway's initial approval.
Interstate 270 (I-270) is a 34.7-mile (55.8 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Maryland that travels from I-495 just north of Bethesda in Montgomery County north to I-70 in the city of Frederick in Frederick County. It consists of the 32.6-mile (52.5 km) mainline as well as a 2.1-mile (3.4 km) spur that provides access to and from southbound I-495. I-270 is known as the Washington National Pike, and makes up the easternmost stretch of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway. Most of the southern part of the route in Montgomery County passes through suburban areas around Rockville and Gaithersburg that are home to many biotech firms. This portion of I-270 is up to 12 lanes wide and consists of a local–express lane configuration as well as high-occupancy vehicle lanes that are in operation during peak travel times. North of the Gaithersburg area, the road continues through the northern part of Montgomery County, passing Germantown and Clarksburg as a six- to eight-lane highway with an HOV lane in the northbound direction only. North of here, I-270 continues through rural areas into Frederick County and toward the city of Frederick as a four-lane freeway.
The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), officially the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCP), is a nationally accredited agency and the primary law enforcement agency of Montgomery County, Maryland, providing the full spectrum of policing services to the entire county, including the Potomac River.
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