Amid the ramped up presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maryland and nationwide, Maryland Attorney General Anothony Brown’s office released guidance on the requirements of local law enforcement when working with federal agents.

Brown sat down with WYPR’s Sarah Petrowich to discuss these guidelines, as well as his persistent legal actions against the Trump administration and the potential deployment of National Guard troops to the city of Baltimore.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Editor’s note: Since WYPR’s interview with Attorney General Brown, the Trump administration announced it will pay half the portion of SNAP benefits for the month of November.

PETROWICH: The Attorney General's office recently released guidance on how state and local law enforcement agencies should work with federal agents, and this has become particularly relevant as we've watched the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents increase across the nation.

So first, can you summarize those guidelines for us and why it was important to release them?

BROWN: Sure, I mean, the guidelines are intended to remind state and local law enforcement that they are governed by Maryland law — Maryland law when it comes to things like body-worn cameras and identifying themselves to residents or those who are going to stop and maybe even arrest, to remind them that the excessive use of force standard applies to Maryland state and local law enforcement, where it might not apply to federal law enforcement.

And it was important not just because you're seeing more civilian immigration enforcement in Maryland, but there are many situations and scenarios where state and local law enforcement are interacting with federal law enforcement. We have task forces and joint investigations on a regular basis and mutual aid agreements.

Look, there are times when federal law enforcement may request backup or support from local law enforcement, so it's not geared towards immigration. It's geared towards joint enforcement between federal and state and local law enforcement for any matter.

PETROWICH: There was at least a section in there where you discuss that it is not the responsibility, though, of local law enforcement to enforce civil immigration laws, right?

So can you explain that just a little bit more, maybe for the general public who doesn't know the distinction between what ICE agents are capable of doing versus local law enforcement?

BROWN: Sure, I mean immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and whether that's at the border or whether that's at communities throughout Maryland, and there's very limited exceptions where local law enforcement participates. You know, you've heard of the 287(g) Programs, and that mostly has to do with jail detention programs.

What state and local law enforcement, what we focus on, and I hear this every day when I talk to sheriffs and chiefs and the men and women on the front lines of law enforcement, they're focusing on the most violent offenders. They're trying to take guns and drugs off the street. They're trying to disrupt and stop human trafficking schemes, organized retail crime that's devastating many communities and their economic activity.

And that's true whether the criminal offender is a citizen, whether they're a green card holder or whether they're an unlawful immigrant, right? It's the activity, and not the individual or the status of the individual, that motivates state and local law enforcement to keep our neighborhoods safe.

PETROWICH: And can you describe what your office has seen in recent months in terms of immigration related cases? Have you seen an influx in caseloads or members of the public reaching out for assistance on this? What does that look like?

BROWN: Again, we don't enforce immigration laws. That's done exclusively by the federal government.

What we have received are complaints about the manner in which ICE is enforcing the civil immigration laws, right? They're wearing masks. They have been described as terrorizing communities. We've seen and we've heard about the excessive use of force, and there have been requests that the office, the attorney general, do something.

And the unfortunate reality is that there's nothing that the Office of the Attorney General can do because this is a federal law enforcement matter, and they're governed by federal law. So that's what we're seeing. That's what we're hearing from the community.

PETROWICH: Can you help shed some light on, what should residents know in terms of rights when it comes to being approached by ICE? But also, if you're an onlooker, for example, who wants to document the situation, can you explain what they should expect?

BROWN: One of the things that we encourage residents to do– so we're here talking today about the guidance that we put out to state and local law enforcement on our website. We also put out guidance for Know Your Rights for the immigrant community.

We've also put out Know Your Rights for the LGBTQ community, and the General Assembly has directed our office to put out guidance regarding how state agencies– what their responsibilities are in what are considered sensitive places where you may anticipate immigration enforcement and what state agencies are required to do, and what people who find themselves in those locations might do themselves.

So the first piece of advice is, go to our website, oag.maryland.gov, and you'll see a lot of Know Your Rights and other guidance. It's on the website.

Look, I think the most common sense advice — and while I'm the chief legal officer of the state of Maryland, and I really don't give advice to the public — but common sense advice is you certainly don't want to interfere in law enforcement activity. You'll get in trouble, and you might even get hurt. So you shouldn't interfere.

Are you able, in a way where you're not interfering, to record what you're seeing? Absolutely. And that question has been considered and decided by courts around the country, but the key thing is to not interfere with enforcement activities. It's not lawful and it can be dangerous.

PETROWICH: You’ve also been at the forefront of about 40 lawsuits against the Trump administration since he's taken office this term.

Talk to us a little bit about how working under this administration has changed the dynamic, if at all, of the Attorney General's office. Do you feel like you're constantly playing defense and that interferes with the general work of your office?

BROWN: We certainly spend time and resources protecting the interests of the residents of Maryland and the sovereignty of the state. We filed an action, most recently, to protect SNAP benefits, Supplemental [Nutrition] Assistance Program, some people understand that as food stamps, for almost 700,000 Marylanders who rely on that benefit, that federal benefit, for their food security, to feed their children and to feed their families.

The administration unlawfully, we claim, discontinued that program, blaming it on the federal shutdown, but Congress expressly provided $6 billion so that if there's a shutdown, like there is today, that benefit would continue to flow to families. So this was not stopped by the administration out of necessity, they did it by choice, and as a result, there are families who are going to go to bed hungry tonight because the SNAP program has been discontinued. Those are the types of actions that we are bringing against the Trump administration to protect Marylanders.

PETROWICH: Are there any updates on the National Guard potentially being deployed to Baltimore? We know that it was one of the cities that President Trump has announced as a place that he would like to send National Guard troops to — any updates from your office on that end?

BROWN: Look, the updates are, we are supporting California, Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, in their actions against the Trump administration, claiming that it was an unlawful deployment of the National Guard into those cities. And Maryland has taken a lead on many of those amicus briefs to support our sister states.

With this president, with this administration, there's no telling what's going to happen when. But to the extent that there is an activation of the National Guard in Maryland on unlawful or impermissible grounds, then certainly we're going to defend the sovereignty of the state.

State and local law enforcement are doing a really good job in Maryland. [There’s] a lot of work to be done. We are seeing crime go down. The numbers tell the story. But that doesn't mean that we're going to rest, right? I work regularly with local law enforcement. They are on the front lines. They're doing great work. I'm in Baltimore city every day. The mayor of Baltimore and his group violence reduction program, it's paying off.

Local officials are best suited to enforce or to provide safety in our communities. We don't really need the mobilization of the National Guard.