Gov. Wes Moore effectively ended Maryland' s participation in the federal 287(g) program on Tuesday after signing legislation banning local partnerships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Nine jurisdictions in Maryland have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, authorizing correctional officers to serve administrative warrants and hold detained noncitizens suspected to be in violation of civil immigration law for transfer into ICE custody.

“We will not allow untrained, unqualified and unaccountable agents to deputize our brave local law enforcement officers,” Moore said during the bill signing ceremony. “Because Maryland is a community of immigrants — it is not our weakness, it's our strength.”

Moore says Maryland will still collaborate with the federal government over deporting noncitizens who “pose a risk to public safety.”

“We want ICE, though, focused on violent criminals and people who are doing true harm to our society, as was promised by the Trump-Vance administration. We need and we want these people to be captured and held accountable,” the governor said.

HB0444/SB0245 were both signed into law as emergency bills, requiring the counties with 287(g) agreements to end their formal partnerships immediately.

But some county sheriffs are already planning their next steps of opposition.

Prior to the bill’s signing, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins — who, since 2008, has led one of the longest standing 287(g) partnerships in the country — signaled his intention to challenge the ban in court.

He believes restricting local law enforcement from partnering with ICE is a constitutional violation and told members of the media prior to the bills’ signing that he would be seeking legal representation on behalf of the sheriffs.

Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees said he would continue working with ICE, even if the bill was signed into law.

“ICE is not going away. And there has to be a process of communication with them. So I will create a policy within my office to continue working with ICE. I won’t look much different than I’m doing right now,” he said.

The type of informal policies DeWees is referring to were a contentious point of debate for lawmakers over the past few weeks.

There are at least six Maryland jurisdictions with policies — not formal 287(g) agreements — on how to work with federal immigration enforcement, and the signed legislation does not ban them.

Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery County), the Senate prime sponsor of the 287(g) ban, has not taken a firm stance on these types of policies, but he does believe they are more effective for community safety than the federal agreements.

“One of the benefits of having it at that local level is that you're going to have local scrutiny, things that reflect the values,” Smith said back in January. “The voters can take a look and say, ‘Listen, what you're doing, we don't like. So the sheriff, we're going to hold you accountable.’”

Smith did indicate state-level legislation is on the way to help regulate what these policies can look like, but Republicans argue normalizing an informal policy system could breed inconsistency.

“At the end of the day, all this legislation does is make it harder for law enforcement to protect our public safety by throwing up additional roadblocks to agency cooperation,” House Republican Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany County) and House Republican Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick County) said in a statement following the bills’ signage.

“It also increases the chances of ICE operations with armed officers in our communities, and the possibility of negative interactions and the chaotic and tragic events we have seen in places like Minneapolis, a jurisdiction that has recently agreed to provide more cooperation with ICE via the types of agreements Maryland is banning under this law,” the statement reads.

Democratic legislative leaders argue local law enforcement should not be supporting the Trump administration’s ramped up immigration enforcement efforts when evidence shows ICE is largely not targeting violent criminals and sometimes denying noncitizens due process.

“By terminating these 287(g) agreements today, we know that ICE will no longer be assisted or subsidized by local law enforcement,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said at the signing ceremony. “We believe in law enforcement — what we will not tolerate is unconstitutional terrorism, and that is what we are seeing across too many states, and here in Maryland, by a lawless administration that has not put safety first.”

“This bill… is saying that in our state, we value respect, we value empathy, we value people's contribution, we value the Constitution, we value and support and protect civil rights, we are against racial profiling and we are going to be unapologetic about the values we stand for,” said House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties) “And that is really important, regardless of what the federal government is doing.”

A bill to ban law enforcement from wearing face masks has passed in the Senate and awaits a hearing in the House, while several additional bills to regulate immigration enforcement and detention facilities in Maryland are making their way through the legislative process.