Overview
- Senate President Bill Ferguson is backing legislation to bar counties and sheriffs from entering 287(g) agreements, with a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing set for Thursday under Chair William Smith.
- Eight counties currently participate in 287(g) — Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, St. Mary’s, and Washington — which supporters say confines immigration checks to jails.
- Sheriffs and Republican lawmakers warn that canceling the deals would shift enforcement to street operations, citing recent activity in Minnesota as a cautionary example.
- Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins defends his jail-only program and says lawmakers cannot strip sheriffs of authority, signaling a potential court challenge if the bill becomes law.
- Montgomery County councilmembers introduced the County Values Act to require a judicial warrant for ICE access to nonpublic county areas and the Unmask ICE Act to bar masked officers, while ICE says such measures have absolutely no impact on its statutory authority.