Maryland lawmakers want to better regulate immigration detention centers, building upon last week’s outlawing of formal partnerships between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The House Government, Labor and Elections Committee approved two bills Friday — each with some bipartisan support — to impose zoning restrictions and minimum condition standards for such holding facilities.
HB1017, sponsored by Del. Melissa Wells (D-Baltimore City), would prohibit state and local governments from approving the use of a building as a private immigration detention center, unless it is explicitly zoned for such a facility.
Wells referred to the recent blocking of an ICE detention center in Howard County as her reasoning for the bill.
In August 2025, Howard County issued a building permit to private company McKeever Services for the purpose of renovating an office building in Elkridge.
The scope of work included “improvement of tenant spaces support areas, detention facility, detainee processing and secured waiting area.”
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball says at the time the permit was granted, it was unclear that the building was intended for occupancy by ICE.
On Feb. 2, Ball announced the permit was revoked due to immigration detention centers requiring a more comprehensive review process and standards that McKeever Services did not meet.
“The retrofitting of private office buildings for detention use without transparency, without public input, without clear oversight is deeply troubling,” Hall said during a February media gaggle.
After unanimous passage by the County Council, Ball also signed into law emergency legislation that allows only a government agency to hold a permit for the “I-3 Use group,” which includes buildings that house more than five individuals under restraint or security.
The bill effectively bans private-owned detention facilities within the county.
Wells says House Bill 1017 would help close these types of zoning “loopholes” statewide, disallowing private companies from operating or occupying buildings as detention facilities without proper zoning authority.
“HB 1017 does not regulate federal immigration enforcement policy or force a particular outcome for federal agencies,” Wells said. “Rather, it protects the integrity of Maryland's zoning framework and ensures that private custodial facilities cannot be hidden in broad or ambiguous zoning categories without explicit authorization in public process.”
The committee also approved HB1018, which would set minimum condition standards for immigration detention facilities.
“House Bill 1018 ensures that if detention occurs in Maryland, it must meet clear safety, health and oversight standards,” the bill’s sponsor, Del. Vaughn Stewart (D-Montgomery County) said. “It doesn't regulate federal enforcement decisions. It just sets minimum safety inspection and readiness standards for all jails in the state, whether it's public, private, federal, state, county, whatever.”
Some lawmakers raised concerns over whether the bill would violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution — which states that federal law supersedes local guidance — by attempting to regulate federal detention facilities.
Stewart cited a similar law in Washington, where a federal appeals court ruled that the state is able to enforce health and safety standards at federal immigration detention centers, as long as the standards are uniform across all jails and detention facilities.
“It does not put any undue constraints on ICE or any federal agency in particular. It's, in fact, a neutral, broad application of what states absolutely have the right to do, which is to make sure that number one, inhabitants of jails are safe,” Stewart said.
The bill would allow the Maryland Commission on Correction Standards to seek enforcement penalties against any jail in the state that does not comply with minimum standards.
The legislation comes as elected officials have sought answers over reports of unfit conditions at ICE’s Baltimore Field Office in recent weeks.
Both bills are emergency bills and would take effect immediately upon signature.
They are slated for a vote of initial approval in the House of Delegates Monday night.
