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Racial profiling violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and undermines public safety and community trust in Maryland. Maryland must take affirmative action to ensure existing protections against racial profiling are not eroded and to protect Marylanders from racial profiling and other abuses by federal agents to the maximum extent allowable by law. The US Supreme Court's continued dismantling of bedrock constitutional rights demands that the General Assembly take swift action to codify essential protections against racial profiling in our state law (SB 854/HB 1262). HB 1262/SB 854 had great hearings in the House and Senate, respectively. Now, we must urge Committee members to place the bill on a vote list and vote “Yes” on a clean bill with no amendments that weaken the bill.

Maryland currently enables President Trump's cruel and lawless mass deportation agenda by allowing localities to voluntarily funnel immigrants into ICE custody. Outside of 287(g) agreements that formally deputize local law enforcement as ICE agents, this informal collaboration has funneled 4 times more Marylanders – most of whom had no criminal conviction into the deportation pipeline. Shockingly, 23 of 24 Maryland counties informally assist ICE in this way. The Community Trust Act would affirmatively ban this practice, ceasing Maryland's complicity in the Trump administration's inhumane mass deportation agenda.