The Maryland legislature recently took an important step toward protecting immigrant communities by passing SB 245/HB 444, legislation that bans 287(g) agreements. These agreements allowed local law enforcement to be deputized as ICE agents.
Ending 287(g) was a critical victory. But it didn’t end all cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE in Maryland. Every day, local police and jail staff informally collaborate with ICE, funneling Maryland residents from correctional facilities into federal immigration custody. This informal pipeline is actually the most common form of ICE collaboration in Maryland, sending four times as many people to ICE as the now-banned formal agreements ever did.
Some sheriffs have even publicly threatened to increase their informal cooperation with ICE in response to the new law, pledging to help deport as many of our neighbors as possible.
That’s why Maryland needs the Community Trust Act (CTA) now.
The CTA is straightforward. It does two things:
- Requires a judicial warrant to detain someone for ICE or to prolong detention for transfer to ICE.
- Stops police and jail staff from proactively notifying ICE or facilitating civil immigration arrests.
Importantly, the CTA does not prevent ICE from enforcing federal immigration law in Maryland. It simply ensures that Maryland’s local resources are not used to carry out federal immigration enforcement. Despite this, there has been a wave of misinformation about what the bill actually does. Let’s set the record straight.
MYTH: Close cooperation between law enforcement and ICE improves public safety
FACT: Public safety requires public trust.
When residents are afraid that calling the police could result in themselves or a loved one being handed over to ICE, they stop calling for help. Crimes go unreported, victims never receive justice, and witnesses stay silent.
When communities fear local law enforcement, everyone becomes less safe.
MYTH: ICE arrests in local jails are the safest way to target dangerous criminals
FACT: Most people serving time in local jails are not convicted of serious crimes.
Many individuals in local jails are either awaiting trial or are there for minor offenses. Data from 2025 shows that four out of every five people picked up by ICE from local jails had no criminal conviction at all.
The narrative that jail transfers are primarily about violent criminals simply doesn’t match the facts.
MYTH: The Community Trust Act will force ICE to conduct more arrests in neighborhoods
FACT: Cooperation with ICE actually enables more aggressive street enforcement.
When local law enforcement helps ICE by identifying and transferring people from jails, it frees up ICE agents and resources to conduct broader enforcement operations.
This is already happening in Maryland. Every day, more than ten Maryland residents are taken by ICE, often during street operations carried out by masked agents moving through neighborhoods.
Reducing local cooperation helps limit the scale of these operations, not expand them.
MYTH: Local and state police are required to help ICE enforce immigration law
FACT: Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
Local police are not required to assist ICE. In fact, honoring ICE requests to hold someone past their scheduled release from jail can violate the 4th amendment if there is no judicial warrant authorizing the hold.
The Community Trust Act simply ensures Maryland agencies follow the law and respect constitutional protections.
MYTH: Without local cooperation, ICE cannot track down serious offenders
FACT: Maryland courts already have the authority to detain people who pose a threat to public safety through bail determinations. And it is our legal justice system, not ICE, that is supposed to be our state’s mechanism for holding those who pose a threat to public safety accountable.
ICE is the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the country and has access to major federal databases, including the FBI’s fingerprint and criminal history systems.
If ICE wants to target someone, it has the tools to do so without relying on local police or jail staff.
Why the Community Trust Act Matters
The Community Trust Act is about drawing a clear line between criminal law enforcement and civil immigration enforcement.
When local law enforcement is focused on protecting residents rather than acting as an extension of ICE, communities are more likely to report crimes, cooperate with investigations, and trust the institutions meant to keep them safe.
Maryland has already taken an important step by ending formal 287(g) agreements. But as long as informal pipelines to ICE remain, the problem persists. The Community Trust Act closes that gap. Because public safety should be built on trust, fairness, and constitutional protections for everyone who calls Maryland home.
