Seven Maryland sheriffs descended on Annapolis this week to deliver a blunt message to their state government: we are not done working with ICE, and no law out of this statehouse is going to change that.
The confrontation comes two weeks after Gov. Wes Moore signed a law banning 287(g) agreements, the federal program that allows ICE to deputize local law enforcement to carry out immigration enforcement. Since the law took effect, local sheriffs have vowed to continue cooperating with ICE informally. Now Maryland Democrats are pushing a second bill, the Community Trust Act, that would close even that door.
ICE fired back Thursday, posting on X that Maryland lawmakers are allowing Americans to become "hurt or, worse, killed by criminal aliens."
According to The Hill, Wicomico County Sheriff Michael Lewis, whose statement was included in ICE's post, described the new law as "politics over public safety." Speaking to reporters, he did not mince words about the frustration among Maryland's elected law enforcement:
"Lawmakers need to wake up and realize the American people want public safety over politics, and they're not getting it!"
Lewis also pushed back on the premise that state legislators should be dictating the boundaries of federal enforcement. According to the Baltimore Sun, he told the gathered crowd in Annapolis:
"Federal law enforcement handcuffs are considerably larger than state police handcuffs, than sheriff's deputies' handcuffs, than local law enforcement handcuffs. Who are we to tell them how to do their job?"
That question hangs over the entire debate. Maryland's elected sheriffs, the officials who actually run local jails and patrol local streets, are telling Annapolis that this law makes their communities less safe. The state legislature's response is to propose making things worse.
The Community Trust Act, the bill that brought sheriffs from seven counties to the state capital on Wednesday, would go significantly further than the 287(g) ban. It would:
Read that again. Under this bill, if a local sheriff has an illegal immigrant in custody on criminal charges and ICE wants that person detained, the sheriff could be prohibited from even making a phone call to federal agents without a warrant in hand first.
The practical effect is a wall between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Not a policy disagreement. A wall.
Gov. Moore has framed the 287(g) ban as a reasonable boundary. He previously said it "draws a clear line" and that Maryland would "continue to work with federal partners to hold violent offenders accountable" while refusing to "blur the lines between state and federal authority in ways that undermine the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve."
But there is a problem with that framing. The sheriffs who actually enforce the law in Maryland's communities are telling Moore, publicly and loudly, that his law is what undermines trust. Not cooperating with ICE. The communities these sheriffs serve elected them. Moore's "clear line" runs directly against the people those communities chose to keep them safe.
Moore and other Maryland Democrats have also accused ICE officers of breaking the law in recent months, citing claims of excessive force and racial discrimination. Sen. Chris Van Hollen went further last month, calling for "dramatic reform" within ICE and accusing officers of acting "completely lawless."
So the governor who signed a law preventing local cops from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement is simultaneously accusing the federal agents of being lawless. The solution to alleged federal lawlessness, apparently, is to make sure local authorities cannot interact with federal agents at all. That is not a public safety strategy. That is an obstruction strategy dressed up in the language of community trust.
Former Gov. Larry Hogan, Moore's Republican predecessor, said flatly that local police will "ignore" the new law. Speaking at Politico Live's "Governors Summit," Hogan acknowledged the complexity but landed on the obvious point:
"When they have violent criminals that they're holding in jail that ICE wants to be detained, they, you know, they shouldn't be let back on the street."
That is not a partisan observation. It is a basic public safety calculation. When a violent criminal alien sits in a local jail, and ICE asks that person be held, letting them walk because state law prohibits a phone call to federal agents is a choice. It is a choice to prioritize political positioning over the safety of the people who live in that jurisdiction.
The sheriffs have made their position clear. They intend to keep working with ICE, formally or informally. The Community Trust Act, if passed, would attempt to close even the informal channels. That sets up a direct collision between elected county law enforcement and the state legislature.
Maryland Democrats are building a legal architecture designed to ensure that illegal immigrants in the criminal justice system face fewer consequences, not more. Every layer of restriction they add makes it harder for sheriffs to do what their voters elected them to do: keep people safe.
Seven sheriffs stood in Annapolis this week and said enough. Annapolis should listen. Because when the people who carry the badges and run the jails tell you that your law is dangerous, the problem is not the sheriffs.