No Sanctuary, St. Mary’s
Commissioners Support Legislation
Local immigration enforcement was a topic at the last Commissioners meeting, where Sheriff Hall addressed concerns during a legislative update. Amid a backdrop of the Trump Administration’s efforts to engage in mass deportations, which hinge on the help of local law enforcement, the topic has been raised a few times recently. Commissioner Ostrow requested Deputy County Attorney John Houser to review HB1188, a bill proposing changes to how local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration authorities.
Houser explained that a law passed four years ago prohibits officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status unless relevant to a state crime investigation. Additionally, police cannot detain undocumented individuals beyond standard legal limits solely due to their immigration status. This restriction conflicts with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) practices, which prefer local law enforcement to hold individuals for an additional 48-hour window. Houser stated the Sheriff’s Office policy aligns with state law. HB1188, sponsored by Delegate Todd Morgan, seeks to repeal these restrictions and mandate local compliance with ICE detainer requests.
Commissioner Hewitt raised concerns about St. Mary’s County being listed as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction by ICE. Sheriff Hall responded that he had spoken with a Baltimore ICE official who was "astounded" to see the county on the list. Hall emphasized his commitment to enforcing state law, stating, "I would never want to put our county, our taxpayers, in jeopardy if I am operating outside of the law." Hewitt confirmed that Hall would comply with ICE requests to detain individuals, with Hall affirming, "Regardless of a person’s immigration status, if they break the law, they’re going to jail." Hall is actively working to remove St. Mary’s from ICE’s non-compliance list. The issue was previously raised by Board of Education member Dorothy Andrews at Commissioner Ostrow’s February 8th town hall, where Ostrow denied that St. Mary’s County is a sanctuary jurisdiction.
ICE’s Enforcement & Removal Operations Criminal Apprehension Division (E-CAD) released a document in June 2024 titled “Detainer Acceptance Tracker - Limited and Non-Cooperative Institutions.” Under the first Trump Administration in January 2020, E-CAD required monthly compliance updates from field offices to track institutions’ cooperation with ICE detainers. The Baltimore field office identified Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s County detention centers as “non-cooperative institutions.” A policy revision in January 2020 broadened the criteria for identifying non-compliant jurisdictions, adding approximately 150 more locations to the list through June 2024. However, it remains unclear why only five Maryland counties were flagged when state law applies uniformly across all 23 counties and Baltimore City.
In December 2024, America First Legal (AFL) sent a letter to Commissioner President Randy Guy, accusing the county of violating federal law by functioning as a sanctuary jurisdiction. AFL, led by Trump Administration official Stephen Miller, describes its mission as fighting "lawless executive actions and the Radical Left" by using “every legal tool at our disposal to defend…from unconstitutional executive overreach.” The letter underscored its argument with a quote from President Theodore Roosevelt: "No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man’s permission when we require him to obey it."
On February 12th, Fox 45 Baltimore reported that federal funding might be at risk for Maryland jurisdictions identified as sanctuary locations. The report referenced a Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) map labeling such jurisdictions. CIS, which calls itself an “independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization,” has received support from conservative figures such as Senator Tom Cotton, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Fox News personalities like Neil Cavuto and Laura Ingraham. However, Georgetown University has described CIS as an "anti-immigration research organization," while the Southern Poverty Law Center has accused it of "circulating racist writers and associating with white nationalists." The libertarian-leaning CATO Institute has also criticized CIS’s research methodology, noting one study’s flawed comparison of "apples to elephants."
With the HB1188 hearing scheduled for March 5th, Commissioner Ostrow motioned to send a letter of support for the bill, which passed unanimously. If enacted, the legislation would require law enforcement to check individuals’ immigration status through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and notify federal authorities if an individual is unlawfully present. Local police would also be required to comply with any ICE detainer requests.
Guidance issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office in January 2025 states that local law enforcement cannot be prohibited from sharing information with federal immigration officials but is not required to do so. Furthermore, it clarifies that "immigration detainers are requests only; local officers are not obligated to honor them, and, in fact, risk violating constitutional rights by doing so."
The ongoing debate over immigration enforcement in St. Mary’s County highlights the complexities of immigration law, where federal, state, and local policies conflict. Painting the county as a sanctuary jurisdiction obscures the real issue: a fractured immigration system in need of comprehensive reform. Instead of advancing productive solutions, such rhetoric further polarizes the debate, detracting from meaningful policy discussions that address the root causes of immigration challenges.
