Photo by Jerry Lazarus
Good evening, Baltimore County.
My name is David Rocah, and I’m here on behalf of the ACLU of Maryland — standing with you, our neighbors, our immigrant communities, and everyone who believes in the rule of law, and that public safety depends on trust, not fear.
In 2017, during the first Trump Administration, County Executive Kaminetz made a promise to the County’s immigrant community. “No personnel within the Police Department or the Department of Corrections shall cause any individual in detention to be detained beyond their court ordered release date, except pursuant to a criminal warrant signed by a judicial official.” And that is also what the law requires.
Just days ago, without notice, without public debate, and without a single word to the County Council or the communities most impacted, Baltimore County’s leadership entered into a backroom deal with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. They did it behind closed doors and only announced it after the fact, as if the people of this county have no right to know when our freedoms are being bargained away.
The MOU that was signed places immigrant families, due process, and community safety at risk.
Let’s be clear about what happened, and why we are here:
This county chose to cooperate with ICE — when it didn’t have to.
Both ICE and the County are saying that they’re not changing county practices.
If nothing was going to change, then why sign anything at all?
They did not do this to increase safety.
They did it to signal obedience to a federal agency known for targeting vulnerable people and spreading fear, and to satisfy political pressure instead of serving the residents who live, work, and raise families here.
ICE, for its part, has effectively admitted that labeling Baltimore County a so-called “sanctuary jurisdiction” was baseless. The same policies that were in effect when DOJ labeled Baltimore County a sanctuary jurisdiction, are the policies that the MOU now says should be followed. So ICE is demanding that the county enforce sanctuary policies?
And the entire premise that the federal government can coerce local policy through baseless labels and funding threats is wrong, authoritarian, and unconstitutional. The County wasn’t violating the law; there wasn’t a crisis; and yet county leaders rushed to sign an agreement that creates one.
People who believe in democracy don’t secretly collaborate with authoritarians; they stand up for due process and transparency.
Let’s also be clear about the legal stakes here. Baltimore County has no authority — none — to detain people for ICE after a judge or jury orders their release. That is unconstitutional, as our own state Attorney General has recognized. And yet the County’s own 2024 corrections policy, memorialized in this MOU, appears to contemplate and encourage exactly that practice (holding people for ICE even after judges say they should be free). That is also a betrayal of the promise County Executive Kaminetz made in his 2017 Executive Order.
And this MOU makes promises to ICE that cannot be kept without violating the law and the 2017 Executive Order, because it promises ICE a certain amount of notice prior to release in 100% of cases, even if the county doesn’t know about the release in advance (such as when a person is released pending trial, or acquitted, or the charges are dismissed).
If someone is released pending trial and then deported, which is what this MOU enables, they can never be held accountable through a conviction. That doesn’t make us safer.
If someone is ordered released and the county holds them anyway, that is an illegal detention.
Let’s be clear: public safety depends on trust, not fear. And trust is destroyed when our local government invites federal immigration enforcement into our jails and into our communities. When local officials act as extensions of ICE, even informally, people stop calling the police. They stop reporting crimes, they stop seeking protection, and we all become less safe.
Within hours of last week’s announcement, the ACLU of Maryland filed a public records request to uncover what the County actually agreed to, because the public has a right to know what its government is doing in our name.
So tonight, we say clearly: Baltimore County must release all of the relevant policies about notifications to ICE, and police and corrections interactions with non-citizens, including whether anything has changed in connection with this MOU.
They should release all of the county’s communications with ICE and DOJ about this MOU.
They need to release the data we demanded this week, showing whether they are actually complying with the 2017 Executive Order, and whether anything has changed since the 2024 policy was adopted.
And they need to revise the 2024 corrections policy to remove any ambiguity about what it means or permits.
Most importantly, they should terminate this ridiculous MOU. At best it is meaningless. At worst, it is a craven surrender to a bully, and invitation to county employees to break the law.
Baltimore County’s immigrant communities are our neighbors, our coworkers, our classmates, our family members. They deserve safety, dignity, and a government that protects them.
Our immigrant neighbors make this county stronger, safer, more vibrant, and more just.
We refuse to let fear, secrecy, and federal bullying undermine our values.
We refuse to let ICE turn Baltimore County into a pipeline for deportation.
Thank you for showing up today, for demanding accountability, and for fighting to ensure that Baltimore County remains a place where every family can live with dignity and without fear.
