The Community Trust Act 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 bill was voted out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee with three amendments at a 7 p.m. meeting on Thursday, which followed days of intensified pressure from immigrant community advocacy organization We Are CASA to advance it.
The Community Trust Act would build upon Maryland’s commitment to ban formal partnerships between local law enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Gov. Wes Moore signed two pieces of emergency legislation into law in February, ordering the nine Maryland counties with these partnerships — known as 287(g) agreements — to immediately terminate them.
These agreements allowed correctional officers to identify and process undocumented immigrants held in local detention centers, as well as allow officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on undocumented immigrants within the jail.
Following the ban, some county sheriffs announced they planned to continue working with ICE regardless, and Frederick County Sheriff Chunk Jenkins — who up until now oversaw one of the longest standing 287(g) agreements in the country — intends to sue over the bill’s constitutionality.
Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told members of the press on Friday that these remarks were cause for concern, prompting the need for a bill that would create a uniform policy for when local law enforcement can work with ICE.
“After we passed the 287(g) ban, what we heard were some local officials outright discussing how they were going to defy the law. That's not acceptable,” Ferguson said, although noting the remarks came from a small minority of the counties.
“When there is not trust, people don't come forward, they don't report crimes and crime perpetuates. What we are doing with these policies is ensuring that every community in Maryland has real protection — that they don't fear talking to a police officer because of what question they might ask next,” he added.
Under the Community Trust Act, local law enforcement in Maryland would only be able to contact ICE for removal proceedings — with the ultimate intent of deportation — if an individual in custody has been convicted of a felony, has previously been sentenced to at least 12 months of incarceration in a Maryland correctional facility or was required to register as a sex offender.
Sen. William Folden (R-Frederick County) introduced an amendment that received rare bipartisan support, which would qualify any individual that was sentenced to and completed at least five years of incarceration in another state to also be subject to ICE involvement.
Under those circumstances, local correctional facilities may notify ICE regarding an undocumented detainee, while state correctional facilities must notify the federal agency.
Additionally, local law enforcement would be able to contact ICE over an individual in custody if required by a court order or if there is a judicial warrant out for their arrest.
That provision would not apply for administrative warrants — warrants signed by federal authorities, not a judge — and it would not apply for immigration detainers, which are requests issued by ICE, asking that another law enforcement agency detain someone.
However, a correctional facility would be required to notify federal immigration authorities within 48 hours of releasing an individual who is the subject of an active immigration detainer.
Republicans criticized the nature of the bill’s advancement, calling Thursday’s committee a “secret voting session.”
“I left the voting session. I felt it violated the Open Meetings Act. I walked out,” Folden, a member of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, said during floor debate on Friday. “I felt so uncomfortable with it because we didn't announce it, we didn't allow the sheriffs and the local law enforcement executives of the state to be involved in it, and we moved it through.”
Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith (D-Montgomery County) rebuffed the argument, noting the meeting was open to the public.
Smith agreed to delay debate on the bill for one hour, allowing Republican senators the time to craft 13 bill amendments.
Folden’s amendment was the only one adopted — Smith argued the remaining proposed changes largely undermined the nature of the bill, several of which tried to qualify serious criminal charges to warrant communication with ICE for removal proceedings, not just convictions.
But Smith argues requiring undocumented immigrants to go through the local criminal justice process enables more accountability than deportation would.
“So you're going to deport someone who's been charged with rape or murder, put them on the beach in Mexico so that they can — I just don't understand what you're talking about,” Smith said.
Ready countered, arguing detaining undocumented immigrants puts additional strain on state resources.
“Maybe we don't have to have the taxpayers pay to house this guy for months and months and months. Maybe we just get him the heck out of here,” he said.
The bill would also keep correctional facilities from asking about an individual's citizenship, immigration status or place of birth entirely, unless it is material to a routine booking procedure.
The Senate ended up giving the bill initial approval after two hours of debate, and it is slated for final approval on Friday night.
It will then have until Monday night to get through the House — where the Democratic majority has signaled support —, barring no changes, before reaching the governor’s desk for signature.
Republicans were steadfast in their disapproval during debate, arguing the bill will ultimately worsen public safety.
“The irony is, we're calling it the Community Trust Act, but we're actually weakening a community because we're not allowing our law enforcement partners to interact with federal law enforcement,” Folden said. “You wonder why we have a recruitment problem, retention problem with law enforcement in the state of Maryland, right? Here's another reason.”
CASA held a rally outside the State House following the bill’s first vote of approval in the Senate, where the legislation’s sponsor, Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arrundel and Howard Counties) lamented his support for the Community Trust Act.
“The goal was to ensure that jails are not the front door to the federal government's chaotic and unlawful deportation pipeline that deports Marylanders to foreign prison with no due process,” Lam said. “The state should have basic protections in place to prevent Marylanders from being arrested, detained and potentially deported by ICE without due process.”
The Senate also gave initial approval to a bill that would outright ban private detention centers in Maryland — often used for immigration detention.
There are currently no private detention centers operating in Maryland.
The legislation has already passed in the House and needs one more vote in the Senate before heading to Gov. Wes Moore for final approval.
