“Yesterday’s incident on the Potomac River was exactly the kind of fear and chaos that federal immigration enforcement tactics are creating in our community. Aggressive operations that target people driving to work, like this one, make our community feel more like a police state than the community we know Montgomery County to be.
We want to be clear about the role our County agencies played, and did not play, during this incident.
On July 22, 2026, Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service’s (MCFRS) swift water rescue team and supporting units were dispatched to the Potomac River near Lock 7 for a report of a person in the water. Once they arrived, they learned that multiple individuals had entered the river. MCFRS’s role in this multi-agency incident was strictly limited to addressing the immediate life-safety hazards in the water. MCFRS confirmed that all individuals had safely reached shore and conducted a secondary search of the river to ensure no one remained in distress. Once emergency responders definitively verified that the life-safety threat was resolved, MCFRS terminated rescue operations, and all units left the scene.
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MCFRS and the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) respond whenever emergency personnel are called to a scene. MCPD’s role was limited solely to ensuring safety and providing assistance if rescue or emergency response became necessary. After it was determined that assistance was not needed, MCPD officers disengaged from the incident. MCPD officers did not participate in the pursuit, detention, apprehension, or enforcement actions associated with this federal operation.
Saving a life comes before everything else. That’s why MCFRS and MCPD responded here. Consistent with Montgomery County’s Trust Act, neither MCPD nor MCFRS participates in federal civil immigration enforcement actions, but we will respond to any emergency situation in which immediate life safety assistance is needed, including when that occurs during a federal immigration enforcement action.
We want to once again assure our residents that our County agencies are here to protect the safety of everyone who lives in, works in, and visits Montgomery County, not to carry out federal civil immigration enforcement. That has not and will not change.”
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Read the original article at mcgov