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Friday’s fire was the first attack against the county’s three day-laborer centers, and a stream of threatening e-mails has increased recently, said Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa of Maryland, the immigrant advocacy group that manages the Derwood day-laborer center with $115,000 in county funding.

There are ‘‘some people who hate our community and they don’t want that we are successful... Some people are in opposition, and that’s fine, but there is a small group that are very aggressive and violent, and this is one example of that,” Torres said.

Friday’s fire already smoldered out by the time a Casa manager arrived to open the employment center at 6 a.m., and damage has been estimated at $2,000.

Investigators have received several tips.

‘‘They’re working it,” said Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Pete A. Piringer. ‘‘Nothing really to hang their hat on yet, but they’re encouraged by some of the leads they’ve gotten.”

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) pushed through his plan for the center in January after Gaithersburg city leaders ended their two-year effort to find a site within city limits.

Leggett called the fire a ‘‘shameful” and ‘‘despicable” act, said Leggett spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield.

Police have stopped by the center at least once a day since it opened April 16, and officers from every police district have been encouraged to fill out paperwork there, said Capt. James A. Fenner Jr., director of county police’s community services division. Police also refuel their cruisers next door. Still, Leggett has ordered that security be strengthened.

Late Friday afternoon, day-laborer advocates held a much-attended rally at the center in a show of solidarity. A trail of some sort of flammable fluid pointed out by investigators could still be seen and smelled.

‘‘It is ironic that those who protest the legality of some immigrants among us would turn around and resort to doing illegal acts,” said the Rev. Mark Brennan of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Gaithersburg.

The fire has also reopened questions about using taxpayer money for centers that cater to immigrants, many of whom are in the country illegally.

‘‘Why is the county executive allowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to a facility that does not check the backgrounds of who is coming through the back door?” said Susan Payne, founder of Citizens Above Party, a vocal opponent of the county’s policy to pay for the day-laborer centers. ‘‘We have no idea who these people are.”

When the county Planning Board approved Leggett’s plan, the commissioners said the immigration debate was beyond their purview, but did mandate that county officials submit a report on how much vehicle and pedestrian traffic the center generates and how many jobs it creates.

With its 30th day of operation on May 19, Casa and the county will compile the report ‘‘some time in June,” said Nancy Hislop of the Upcounty Regional Services Center, the agency responsible for the day-laborer center.

So far, Casa officials are encouraged by the center’s success. Job placements jumped from 30 the first week to 90 the second week to 105 jobs last week, they said.

Casa began issuing photo identifications last week to workers who request them. English classes have not started, and it is unclear when they will, but steps are under way to create an advisory board of clergy, community groups and day laborers.

Torres acknowledged that some workers will inevitably choose not to use the center. That has played out in Gaithersburg in the small crowds of men who continue to gather in parking lots along Route 355, particularly in front of the 7-Eleven in the Duvall shopping center.

Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz and the City Council voted Monday night to delay enforcement of a recently passed law that bans curbside hires until at least Sept. 1.

The controversial anti-solicitation ordinance has drawn fire from civil rights groups while receiving strong support from Olde Towne Gaithersburg residents who for more than two years have had to deal with unsupervised workers gathering in their neighborhood.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy recently suggested that the city’s law may be unconstitutional, and Gaithersburg leaders are appealing to Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler for his opinion.

Delaying the law until Sept. 1 is to give Gansler time to weigh in.

Is it working?

After a slow start upon opening April 16, job placements at the day-laborer center have picked up sharply:

First week: 30 jobs, 18 employers

Second week: 90 jobs, 27 new employers, 4 return employers

Third week: 105 jobs, 40 new employers, 14 return employers

Source: Casa of Maryland