Throughout Montgomery County, undocumented immigrants and their families live in fear. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as they have in major cities, have arrested immigrants on the streets.

“Violent ICE activity has been happening in our neighborhoods. And parents are afraid to take their kids to school and go to work,” said Tracy Espinoza, a teen activist and senior at Gaithersburg’s Watkins Mill High School.

Espinoza spoke at a county press conference showcasing a bill to thwart ICE. County government has sided with immigrants, limiting local police involvement with efforts to detain and deport.

Ordinary county residents have also come to the aid of immigrants. Lawyers are offering free legal advice. Parents and retirees walk the children of undocumented parents to school. Other residents are protesting at rallies and videotaping arrests.

These people, experts say, risk arrest themselves, but can minimize their vulnerability by knowing their rights.

The Banner spoke with David Rocah, senior attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, and with CASA, the immigrant advocacy organization, about staying within the law.

ICE did not respond to requests to comment.

What can you say?

The public is allowed to hurl harsh words at federal officers, Rocah said, and are always allowed to videotape their actions on public streets.

“Being critical of law enforcement is fully protected by the First Amendment and is not illegal. Period. Full stop. End of story,” he said.

“Saying unpleasant things, taunting, swearing, etc., are not sufficient to make that speech unprotected,” he said, and officers are expected to have a higher threshold for this than an ordinary person.

What can’t you say?

Free speech becomes illegal speech in some very specific instances. It is illegal, for example, to incite a riot. The legal question in these instances, Rocah said, is whether the words prompted bystanders to take action in the moment.

Other speech that is not protected, he continued, includes threats — words that convey an intent to harm a specific person at a specific time. That speech, Rocah said, must be “reasonably understood as actually communicating that intent as opposed to simply inflammatory words.”

What can you capture with your camera or phone?

People are also allowed to record federal law enforcement officers in public spaces, Rocah said, but only so long as it does not interfere with the agents’ movements.

“Officers are allowed to create some perimeter around them when they are engaged in their law enforcement activities, for their own protection and for the protection of whoever they may be interacting with,” Rocah said.

They can order people to step back and stay back, and arrest people for disobeying, he said.

In a well-publicized incident last month, Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink confronted federal agents detaining a person in a parking lot in Adelphi, in Prince George’s County.

She alleged that an ICE officer grabbed her arm and tried to snatch her phone as she recorded him and other agents.

“They were attempting to prevent me from videotaping them, which is my First Amendment right,” she told The Banner.

Why videotape an arrest?

Videotaping can produce evidence, Roach said, that may benefit civilians in any legal dispute with authorities. It may be especially useful, he continued, when federal agents have not activated body cameras.

He also advised against voluntarily giving up a phone to federal officers, who need warrants to secure private property.

After an arrest

If stopped on the street, a person does not have to answer questions from a federal officer, according to CASA, the immigrant advocacy group.

If they do not have a warrant, federal law enforcement cannot arrest someone unless they have evidence that a crime was committed or that the person is not authorized to live in the country.

In some cases, it may be unclear whether officers are actually making an arrest. If unclear, CASA suggests asking officers. If the answer is no, the group advises asking to leave before walking away slowly without answering any more questions.

If the answer is yes, the group suggests telling officers you want to speak to a lawyer, then exercising your right to remain silent.

CASA recommends never lying to an immigration officer, because that can ultimately be used against the person arrested.