Lindsey Zuniga says her parents carry their passports everywhere in case they are ever approached by federal immigration officers, even though they don’t know if that is enough to prevent them from being detained.

“We’ve heard a lot of stories about people getting arrested despite having documentation. It’s kind of just a safety precaution,” said Zuniga, 18, a Gaithersburg resident.

The likelihood of getting stopped is higher under President Donald Trump, who has made deporting undocumented immigrants a priority, but has also swept up those here legally. About one in four residents in Montgomery County, which has the highest immigrant population in the state, says they know someone who has been personally affected by the federal immigration crackdown, according to a poll commissioned by The Banner.

Overall, 26% of county respondents indicated that they are aware of someone who has been affected during mass deportation efforts by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, since Trump came into office.

Hispanic or Latino respondents, like Zuniga, are far more likely to know someone who has had an encounter with ICE, according to the poll, with 41% indicating such awareness.

About 235,000 Hispanic people live in Montgomery County, representing more than 20% of the county’s population, according to just-released 2024 Census Bureau counts. It was only around 7% in 1990, according to county officials.

Nearly 18% of county residents speak Spanish in their homes, according to the census data.

The highest percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents live in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village, the county said. They hail mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras, according to county data.

But Hispanic residents aren’t the only ones familiar with someone touched by immigration enforcement. Twenty-one percent of Montgomery County’s Black residents, 16% of Asian respondents and 27% of white respondents reported knowing someone personally affected by federal immigration enforcement.

Olusola Davies-Dada, a 53-year-old caregiver from Clarksburg who emigrated from Nigeria, said the Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration has caused significant unrest among immigrant communities in the county.

“Immigrants have done a lot for this country. This is not right to be paid back like this,” he said.

According to census and county planning data, approximately 34% of Montgomery County’s population is foreign-born, the highest share of any Maryland county and about double the statewide tally.

According to a 2024 state of the economy report from the state comptroller’s office, Maryland immigrants contributed more than $100 million in net state and local personal income taxes after refunds annually and had $33.1 billion in spending power.

The stepped-up federal enforcement has caused Davies-Dada, like Zuniga’s parents, to take the additional step of carrying proper documentation when he leaves his home.

“I carry a passport with me all the time,” he said.

A family member of a close friend, originally from Cameroon, was detained by ICE in Prince George’s County in the summer, Davies-Dada said.

“He is just a regular person doing work, trying to make a living for himself and his family. He was caught in the web,” Davies-Dada said. “It could happen to anyone.”

If it were up to him, ICE should solely focus on deporting violent criminals, he said.

“Not people that are going about their lives, minding their daily business,” Davies-Dada said.

While there have not been large-scale immigration raids by ICE in Montgomery County as of early September, a county official told The Banner that there have been targeted enforcement efforts, which have led to “collateral arrests.”

A majority of Montgomery County residents are against the federal government’s deportation efforts, with 60% of poll respondents indicating that they oppose the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, while 26% say they support the administration’s policies on immigration. Seventeen percent of poll respondents called illegal immigration a very serious problem.

Chris Bermudez, 40, of Germantown, said his father is from Ecuador and came into the country legally.

“He went through the process and worked hard. I don’t see why more people can’t do that,” Bermudez said.

Bermudez backs the federal government’s efforts to curtail unlawful immigration. He noted it’s been a problem for decades.

“There’s been a lot of talk and a lot of rhetoric. Very little action. If [Trump] wants to take steps toward curbing illegal immigration, I’m all for it,” he said.

Bermudez, a Republican, added that political life in Montgomery County can be a challenge for some like-minded folks.

“It’s tough being a Republican in a blue state.”

Zuniga, who was born in the United States and says she doesn’t have the stereotypical appearance of a Hispanic woman, said her day-to-day life in Gaithersburg has not changed because of the federal enforcement.

But the freshman at Montgomery College said she knows two people, including an in-law of a relative and a family friend, who have been questioned by the federal government about their legal status in the country. At least one of those people was detained by immigration authorities, Zuniga said.

She said she is frustrated that ICE is deporting hard-working people just trying to make better lives for their families.

“I don’t think it’s right. I feel they are putting families out that have been working here that have been putting their all in contributing,” Zuniga said.

She believes that immigration is a key issue among Hispanics in Montgomery County, and she says removing so many immigrants from the country will negatively affect the economy.

“It’s a big issue,” Zuniga said. “We take up a pretty decent amount of America’s population. … Jobs are being unfulfilled now.”

Methodology: The Banner poll, conducted by OpinionWorks, surveyed 910 Montgomery County residents. Responses were gathered via telephone and online survey Aug. 16-23. The statistical margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.