Not since the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which primarily focused on climate policy, has a bill been so deceptively named. The Maryland House of Delegates voted late Saturday night to approve the Community Trust Act, legislation that would expand protections for illegal aliens who have committed crimes in the state. The 92-37 vote fell largely along party lines.
The measure, which passed the Maryland Senate on Friday night by a 29-13 vote, would impose stricter limits on cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
The Baltimore Banner reported:
The Community Trust Act would block corrections officials and law enforcement from holding or detaining an individual for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless a judge has issued a warrant. The bill includes exceptions that allow ICE to be contacted when jails release individuals who were convicted of felonies or crimes listed on the sex offender registry list.Del. David Moon, a Montgomery County Democrat, said it draws a “bright line” for jails and ICE alike to follow.“We don’t just hand humans over,” he said. “The bill gives a clear directive to ICE: Bring a conviction, bring a warrant.”
Republican delegates introduced 20 amendments during the debate. One proposed changing the bill’s title to the “Maryland Sanctuary State Act” or the “Maryland Criminal Alien Protection Act,” according to the Banner. Clearly, those ideas were shot down.
In the end, only one proposed amendment was adopted. It added an exception to clarify that certain provisions of the bill would apply “only in certain counties.” It does nothing to change the substance of the bill.
Republicans criticized the speed with which the bill had advanced. Del. Jason Buckel, the House Republican leader, noted, “Forty-eight hours ago, no one I knew of thought this bill was going anywhere.”
This was not hyperbole. Baltimore radio station WYPR reported the legislation “seemed all but dead as of Thursday, having not been voted out of either its House or Senate committee, but its status suddenly changed with just days left in the legislative session.” The current legislative session ends on Monday night.
According to WYPR, the revival of the bill came as a result of “intensified pressure” from immigrant community advocacy organization We Are CASA before the current session ended.
Following the vote, Republican Del. Matt Morgan, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement: “Democrats are advancing criminal protection over public safety in the dark. If democracy truly dies in darkness, they just turned off the lights.”
Before the bill reaches Gov. Wes Moore’s desk for signature, the Senate must first approve several House revisions, including “a provision designating it as an emergency measure that would take effect immediately upon the Democratic governor’s approval.”
With this vote, the General Assembly has made clear it is prioritizing criminal illegal aliens over public safety.
Maryland is now a full-fledged sanctuary state. In reality, it was already well on its way. In February, the legislature passed a law banning local law enforcement from entering into ICE partnership agreements under the 287(g) program.
[Note: “The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), authorizing ICE to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.”]
At the time, some local sheriffs openly discussed defying the law. Among them was Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, who has said he intends to sue over the measure’s constitutionality. While I’m not a lawyer, it is reasonable to question whether a state can prohibit agreements authorized under federal law.
As I see it, states and municipalities trying to exempt themselves and their constituents from federal law is the very definition of a confederacy. And just as the original Democrat-led Confederacy resisted federal authority in order to preserve slavery, today’s Democrats are not only resisting federal authority to shield illegal aliens from enforcement, but they are impeding the government’s efforts to enforce immigration laws.
Maryland’s leaders may frame this as compassion or “community trust,” but the underlying question is far more fundamental: whether states can selectively obstruct federal law when it suits them. That tension cannot persist indefinitely. Either federal immigration law is enforced uniformly, or it becomes optional — subject to the political preferences of individual states. Sooner or later, this contradiction will have to be confronted.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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