Black State Senators in MD Push Law to Limit Interaction with ICE: ‘We can’t trust them’

From [HERE] Immigrant rights advocates flocked to Annapolis Thursday in support of legislation slated to ban state law enforcement from entering into partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We are watching horrified as this administration beats, abducts, murders people — including American citizens and veterans. Masked men are marching down our streets with weapons with no accountability for our laws and our rights as Americans,” Del. Nicole Williams, D-Prince George’s, said at a news conference. “Today we are here to say, ‘Not here in Maryland. We will not allow the masking of law enforcement or the participation of these ICE programs anymore.’ ”

Sponsored by Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith, D-Montgomery, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, and Sen. Karen Lewis Young, D-Frederick, Senate Bill 245 would ban any state agency or employee, including local sheriffs, from entering into 287(g) agreements with ICE.

Williams is sponsoring the bill in the House, where it will be heard in the Judiciary Committee later this session.

If passed, the bill would go into effect June 1.

Both Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s, support the legislation.

In Maryland, eight counties participate in ICE’s 287(g) Jail Enforcement model Program, allowing them to alert the agency when people who entered the U.S. illegally are held in their facilities for breaking state laws. Of those jurisdictions, five — Allegany, Carroll, Garrett, St. Mary’s and Washington counties — also participate in the Warrant Service Officer Program, which allows law enforcement to serve and execute administrative warrants in county jails.

“How can our community trust our local and state officers to protect us and serve us when these very officers are so entangled with ICE?” Ama Frimpong, CASA’s legal director, asked. “We can’t trust them.”

There are other forms of 287(g) agreements that Maryland counties don’t participate in, including the delegation of certain immigration enforcement powers to local officers.

Though local sheriffs are duly elected constitutional officers, the Maryland General Assembly holds the power to restrict the rights and responsibilities through legislation. [MORE]