No evidence exists to back up plans that would bring undocumented immigrants to Harford, officials say

Nov. 17—For nearly a week, Harford County politicians have made statements and residents have lit up social media raising concerns about a proposal to bring more than 200 undocumented immigrants to area hotels.

But state officials, who would need to approve this kind of proposal, say there is no such plan in the works.

Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly and Aberdeen Mayor Patrick McGrady both said they received letters from Mohammad Moses Fahmy, who said he is the managing partner of the Greater Baltimore Area Motel Consortium. The letter claimed he was planning to bring about 220 immigrant families to Harford hotels.

The letters said the consortium, which has little to no information about it online, would be bringing the families after discussing logistics with New York City officials. Additionally, Fahmy said the consortium notified Gov. Wes Moore's office as well as the office of Rafael López, secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Services. However, both Maryland and New York City officials have denied knowing the consortium or its plans to bring the families to Harford, according to Cassilly and McGrady.

Matt Button, a spokesperson for Cassilly, said the county's administration reached out to several state entities including the governor's office and Department of Human Services, as well as officials in New York City after the letter surfaced.

"The administration also reached out to Mohamed Fahmy, but he has yet to provide us with more detail other than what is in his letter," Button said in an email. "We also contacted the two hotels, but their responses were inconclusive."

The Baltimore Sun was unable to reach Fahmy for comment. Additionally, Amy Rohrer, president and chief operating officer for the Maryland Hotel Lodging Association, declined to comment on the situation because she did not know about the consortium.

In an interview on Thursday, López said the information presented in the letter is false and does not align with federal law.

"The information being used is not based in fact, or reality," he said. "The asylum process in our country is one clearly defined in law and not dictated by hotel owners or managers randomly contacting counties with inaccurate information."

Despite hearing there was no evidence of the plans, Cassilly sent out a release Wednesday afternoon saying he " ... will use every resource at [his] disposal to prevent it."

The letters to Cassilly and McGrady received from Fahmy said the lodging, food, schooling and case management for the immigrants would be provided by the consortium for a year. The letter to McGrady referenced the Comfort Inn & Suites located at 980 Hospitality Way as a site for the immigrants. Fahmy said the hotel can accommodate up to 115 families.

As for Cassilly's letter, the consortium pointed toward the Holiday Inn at 1326 Policy Drive in Belcamp, which they said could accommodate up to 105 families.

Fact-checking the letters

The letters received attention Wednesday afternoon when County Councilman Aaron Penman posted a statement on his Facebook page calling on Cassilly to "reject proposal to house [undocumented immigrants] in Harford County motels."

After receiving the letters last weekend, both Cassilly and McGrady say they spent time investigating the veracity of the claims before speaking publicly about it.

However, despite McGrady and Cassilly explaining the lack of evidence in their statements, they both asserted that if the letters were authentic, they'd do everything in their power to prevent the consortium from housing undocumented immigrants.

In response to Penman's Wednesday afternoon statement, Cassilly's office put out a news release later in the day. Button said Cassilly's office decided to assert its stance against the possibility of the hotel plan despite the lack of evidence because of Penman's statement.

"Unfortunately, Councilman Penman sent out a news release on Wednesday afternoon, falsely claiming that the county executive was considering allowing hundreds of undocumented immigrant families to overwhelm our schools and support systems, raising deep concerns among our citizens, social service agencies, and schools," Button said. "In fact, County Executive Cassilly had directed staff to find ways to stop it. We responded later that day with our statement to calm concerns and set the record straight."

In an interview late Thursday, Penman said he wanted to bring to light any potential conversations about the possibility of undocumented immigrants taking residence in Harford hotels, especially in light of several Republican governors sending asylum-seekers to Democratic states.

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The Morning Sun

Penman said he believed the letters had validity after he found Fahmy's LinkedIn profile which says he is the director of operations for Choice & Wyndham brands. When asked if he reached out to state or New York officials before speaking out, Penman said he reached out to the liaison for Cassilly's office.

"I think the community should be well aware of it, just like as if, there's a zoning issue," Penman said about possibly amplifying misinformation. "So, again, that's what I've done. This isn't fearmongering, just a discussion with a community that this potentially could happen. And let us let us know what to think."