A day after the Maryland Senate approved legislation to limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the House of Delegates approved the bill as an emergency measure Saturday night.
The 92-37 vote in support of Senate Bill 791 came shortly before midnight, capping a 13-hour day in the House and putting the bill one step away from the governor’s desk.
If the Senate accepts the House changes on Monday, the final day of the 90-day legislative session, it would finish a remarkable run for a major piece of legislation that was only voted out of committee late Thursday night.
“We are making a real promise that immigration enforcement is focused on violent criminals,” House Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) said before he cast his vote in favor of the measure. “I do believe this is a balanced bill that will do that in everything going on.”
House Republicans said the bill would not only make Maryland a sanctuary state for criminals but would also eliminate partnerships between local law enforcement and federal agencies.
“These policies are going to have repercussions. Making Maryland a sanctuary state will further bankrupt us, if we’re not bankrupt already,” said House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick).
The approval came one day after the Senate voted 29-13 for the bill that would close a loophole that lets local law enforcement agencies and jails detain individuals based on their immigration status and requests from ICE.
Supporters have said the bill, labeled the Community Trust Act, complements legislation signed into law earlier this year that bans the so-called 287(g) agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies. Under the Community Trust Act, ICE would need a judicial warrant to compel action from the state.
The House took its turn to amend the bill Saturday, starting with a 12-6 party-line vote in the Judiciary Committee to move the bill to the floor.
The biggest change by the House was to make SB 791 an emergency measure, meaning it will take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature instead of on Oct. 1. Emergency legislation requires three-fifths of each chamber to approve, or at least 85 delegates and 29 senators, levels that are well within reach for the Democrat-dominated legislature.
Another House amendment changed one word for an individual from “covered” to “convicted.”
The person who would be detained in a local or state correctional facility can be notified by ICE in four situations: if the person is:
- Convicted of a felony in the United States;
- A registered sex offender;
- Served between 12 and 18 months in a state prison; or
- Committed an offense in another state and served at least five years in prison, “and the individual completed at least five years of incarceration of that sentence.”
The House added one other sentence to the bill Saturday: “A state or local correctional facility may not coerce, intimidate, or threaten an individual based on the actual or perceived citizenship or immigration status of the individual or any other person.”
Sen. Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County) said in a phone interview Saturday afternoon that he had not seen the House amendments. But when asked about the House making the bill an emergency measure, he said, “I can understand that.”
Sydnor said it’s unclear if any other amendments would keep the Senate from giving the bill final approval on the last day of the session on Monday.
House Republicans would end up offering hours of amendments, starting with an opening salvo from Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), to change the title of the bill to the “Maryland Sanctuary State Act of 2026.”
“So that everybody knows when they look at the bill, they know exactly what it does,” she said. The majority Democratic chamber easily rejected the amendment 91-35 before giving the bill preliminary approval Saturday evening.
After a brief dinner break, during which about 50 boxes of pizza were brought in to keep House members close by, the chamber returned for a third session Saturday night that was strictly focused on the Community Trust Act and the other 19 amendments offered by Republicans.
A friendly amendment was accepted from Del. William Wivell (R-Washington and Frederick) to delete the word “written” in the requirement that a state correctional facility provide notice to federal immigration authorities.
Several sought to revert part of the Senate version to keep the phrase “a covered individual,” with Del. April Miller (R-Frederick) asking at one point, ” What’s the difference between covered versus convicted.
Del. Elizabeth Embry (D-Baltimore City), who served as one of the floor leaders responding to questions on the bill, said that convicted was merely a more accurate term.
While Republicans argued that the bill does not improve public safety, Democrats such as House Majority Whip Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s) said it will ensure that all Marylanders are protected.
“What this bill does is to ensure we have one system around how we deal with corrections, how we deal with folks that are convicted of the most heinous of crimes,” he said. “This bill builds trust. This bill puts us on a pathway for us to be able to really get our communities together.”