For nearly two decades, staff at Frederick County’s jail in Maryland have routinely posed two questions to every inmate: Which country holds your citizenship? What is your place of birth?
When responses indicated origins outside the United States, local deputies with specialized federal training would begin investigating potential immigration violations. Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins reports that since 2008, his department has transferred 1,884 individuals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
This practice ends immediately following legislation enacted Tuesday by Democratic Governor Wes Moore, which bans immigration enforcement partnerships between local agencies and federal authorities.
Maryland’s new statute demonstrates how Democratic-controlled states are resisting President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement expansion. A total of ten states, all under Democratic leadership, have implemented statewide restrictions preventing law enforcement from participating in key programs Trump uses for mass deportation efforts.
Similar legislation prohibiting ICE cooperation agreements became law this month in New Mexico and took effect in January in Maine. New York Governor Kathy Hochul supports comparable measures that would prevent local officers from receiving ICE deputization. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger recently ended state-level ICE partnerships established by her Republican predecessor, though local sheriff agreements remain intact.
Democratic opposition has intensified as the Trump administration faces growing criticism over large-scale enforcement operations in multiple cities and the deadly shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota.
“There needs to be accountability for this organization, because right now the Trump-Vance ICE operation is not moving with proper accountability measures,” Moore stated to reporters following the signing ceremony.
Frederick County’s longtime Republican sheriff argues that ending the ICE partnership will require releasing individuals who might subsequently commit additional offenses.
“I’m extremely disappointed with the legislation,” Jenkins said, “because really and truly, it’s going to put the public at risk in a lot of ways.”
After assuming office last year, Trump reinstated a decades-old initiative that provides local officers with training to question and detain suspected undocumented immigrants.
The 287(g) initiative — referencing the 1996 legislation that established it — operated under President Joe Biden’s administration solely for immigrants already in custody on criminal charges. Trump broadened its scope to include local task forces authorized to conduct street arrests, reviving an approach that former President Barack Obama had ended due to racial profiling concerns.
Program participation has surged dramatically, growing from 135 agreements across 20 states before Trump’s presidency to over 1,400 current agreements spanning 41 states and territories. Some local departments maintain multiple agreements covering various immigration enforcement functions.
Approximately 800 agencies hold task force agreements, providing the broadest enforcement authority. As incentive, ICE provides local agencies signing task force agreements with $100,000 for new vehicles. For each trained task force officer, ICE covers salary, benefits and $7,500 in equipment costs.
Four Republican-led states — Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Texas — mandate local jail participation in the program. These states represent half of all 287(g) agreements nationwide.
The expansion of ICE partnerships coincides with increased federal immigration enforcement funding. A major tax reduction law signed by Trump last year allocates $150 billion for immigration enforcement, including over $46 billion to recruit 10,000 ICE agents and $45 billion for expanded immigrant detention facilities.
Nine Maryland counties led by Republican sheriffs maintain cooperative ICE agreements. These partnerships must cease under the new law, which passed with overwhelming support in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who arrived from the Dominican Republic at age 8, described the legislation as reflecting Maryland’s commitment to civil rights.
“We value empathy,” she stated. “We value peoples’ contribution. We value the Constitution. We value and support and protect civil rights.”
However, some Republican sheriffs and legislators warn that prohibiting cooperative agreements may prompt ICE to deploy more federal agents within the state.
“I think what you’ll see is more immigrant enforcement, not less,” said Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, whose department has transferred approximately 430 inmates to ICE over nine years. “Our program was the safest way and the best way to identify people” in the U.S. illegally.
The Department of Homeland Security claimed the new law “will make Maryland less safe” and increase federal workload in the state.
“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” the department stated.
An AP-NORC poll indicates approximately 60% of U.S. adults believe Trump has “gone too far” in deploying federal immigration agents to American cities, with political independents showing increasing discomfort with his methods.
“The growing public pushback against Trump’s immigration enforcement – especially in more Democratic-leaning states – has created political pressure and a political opening to pass laws like the one in Maryland,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the nonprofit American Immigration Council.
Tuesday saw Virginia’s Senate approve legislation along party lines establishing significant restrictions on proposed 287(g) agreements. The measure still requires House approval.
“I’m seeking to give some comfort to thousands of men, women and children in the Commonwealth who are living in fear that federal agents might send them or their family members to a country they fled, or a country they have never been to,” said Democratic state Senator Saddam Azlan Salim, the bill’s sponsor.
New Mexico lawmakers also referenced intensive immigration enforcement activities in Minnesota when justifying limits on ICE cooperation. The New Mexico legislation prohibits state and local government contracts for ICE detention facilities and eliminates agreements allowing local officers to perform federal immigration duties.
Curry County, located roughly 100 miles southwest of Amarillo, Texas, represents New Mexico’s sole jurisdiction with a 287(g) agreement. Sheriff Michael Brockett explained the arrangement provides secure transfer methods to ICE custody, “rather than federal agents searching for released prisoners on the streets and in neighborhoods of our community.”
