The Maryland House and Senate gave overwhelming gave final approval Tuesday to identical bills that will prohibit agreements between local police and federal immigration agencies.
The votes — 32-12 in the Senate and 99-40 in the House — both exceeded the three-fifths needed to approve the emergency bills, which will take effect immediately after being signed by the governor, who is expected to do so. Each chamber still needs to approve the others’ bill before they can reach the governor’s desk.
Supporters said they hope to have Senate Bill 245 and House Bill 455 approved and on the governor’s desk this month, which happens to be Black History Month.
“That is the goal,” Del. J. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said during a press conference alongside various House leaders Tuesday.
The Senate on Tuesday also voted 31-13 for Senate Bill 1, which prohibits face coverings on law enforcement officers while they are on duty. Supporters say the law, sponsored by Sen. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s), would apply to often-masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers when they are working in the state. The House has its own version of the masking bill, but that bill is not scheduled to have a committee hearing until Feb. 24.
Sen. Mary-Dulany James (D-Harford) was the only Democrat to vote against the face-coverings bill, which now heads to the House. Del. Frank Conaway Jr. (D-Baltimore City) was the only Democrat in either chamber to vote against the bills banning 287(g) agreements with ICE.
The 287(g) bills come amid a national debate over the aggressive immigration enforcement tactics adopted by the Trump administration, which led to the fatal shootings last month of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — by federal immigration officers.
Nine sheriff’s departments in Maryland currently have 287(g) agreements with ICE for detainers — allowing the local officials to detain someone in their jails for an additional 48 hours for ICE to pick them up, if it is determined the person is in the country illegally.
Supporters of the agreements say work is processed inside a local jail. Transfer of the inmate is straightforward, they say, and local expenses are negligible. If the legislation passed Tuesday wins final approval and is signed by the governor, the program would end immediately in nine counties that currently have such arrangements: Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Garrett, St. Mary’s, Washington and Wicomico.
Several sheriffs from those counties traveled to Annapolis two weeks ago to emphasize the agreements are a “public safety tool” and that local police aren’t conducting immigration enforcement and arrests on the streets.
“I rise in strong opposition so Maryland does not become Minneapolis,” Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) said during Tuesday’s Senate debate, which lasted less than an hour. “We’re taking a model where this questioning and interaction is done in the detention facilities … as opposed to out in the community of what we’re seeing in Minneapolis. All of us must put public safety as job number one for all of our constituents.”
Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee and sponsor of the legislation, was asked by Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) what problem is being solved by passing the bill.
“What we’re saying with this piece of legislation is that we are no longer going to cooperate formally to do federal immigration enforcement, which is something that’s purely under the prerogative of the federal government,” Smith said. “State and local law enforcement officers are still going to cooperate with every level of government to solve violent crime and to hold violent offenders accountable. Public safety will be upheld to the highest accord in Maryland.”
‘I said what I said’
A portion of the nearly two-hour discussion in the House didn’t move as smoothly on the measure sponsored by Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George’s). When Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford) stood up to speak in opposition of the bill, she talked about a previously approved bill. House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) asked Arikan to just speak about the 287(g) measure.
Arikan noted that “my colleague from Charles County (Del. C.T. Wilson) was allowed to go on a 40-minute tirade about Donald Trump on a bill about redistricting. I’m speaking about immigration policy.”
“Respectfully, let’s just stay with the bill,” Peña-Melnyk said.
“You have called me out specifically after many people have gone on wild tangents,” Arikan said.
A couple minutes later as Arikan continued to talk, Peña-Melnyk banged her gavel to tell Arikan that Wilson was serving as floor manager on the redistricting bill Monday, then called on Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), the House parliamentarian to speak.
“We shouldn’t be having a back-and-forth argument with the speaker,” Wilkins said. “Her point about us staying on the bill is 100% accurate. She determines all points of order.”
Peña-Melnyk then recognized Arikan, whose final words on the floor Tuesday were that the “chamber feels like it’s being run like a Third World dictatorship that is silencing the opinions of the minority [party]. That’s what it feels like. I said what I said.”
House Majority Whip Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s) summarized the viewpoints of his Democratic colleagues on their support to ban the 287(g) program.
“We have a responsibility, and I’ll say it every single day I get a chance to, to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “This bill helps us do just that; 287(g) with this current [federal] administration and this current moment is not keeping us safer.”
At a news conference with House leadership after the session, Peña-Melnyk noted that the House has already acted on immigration enforcement bill, a redistricting plan and proposed energy legislation in a session that is just three weeks old.
“It feels like March in the House right now,” she said. “It’s because there’s serious work to be done here and we’re serious about getting it done.”