ACLU of Maryland Statement on Wicomico County Council Vote to Enter 287(g) Agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement

WICOMICO COUNTY - We strongly urge the Wicomico County Council to reject entering into a 287(g) agreement with ICE. Maryland has lived through the devastating consequences of racial profiling before. For years, the ACLU of Maryland fought to expose and challenge the Maryland State Police’s unlawful targeting of motorists of color. Under Sheriff Mike Lewis’s leadership, that same culture of racial profiling was tolerated and even encouraged through training. The 287(g) program is cut from that same cloth. It embeds racial profiling into daily policing, targets people who have committed no serious crimes, and tears families apart.

Across the country, more than three-quarters of the people deported under 287(g) have no criminal convictions. This program does nothing to make communities safer. Instead, it diverts scarce local resources away from real public safety priorities, erodes community trust in law enforcement, and uses taxpayer dollars to fund federal immigration enforcement. Public safety depends on strong, trusting relationships between police and the communities they serve—287(g) undermines that trust.

It is important to remember that participation in 287(g) is entirely voluntary. If Wicomico County were to enter into such an agreement, the County and its taxpayers would bear the financial, economic, and social costs of a program designed to scapegoat immigrants for political gain. This is not the role of local police. Their duty is to protect public safety, not act as immigration agents.

For these reasons, we urge the County Council to stand on the side of fairness, community safety, and fiscal responsibility by rejecting this harmful agreement.