Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) traveled to Annapolis on Thursday to support a bill in the General Assembly that would ban local law enforcement agencies in Maryland from having formal agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The lead sponsor of SB245 is state Sen. Will Smith (D-Dist. 20), whose district includes parts of Silver Spring and Takoma Park. The bill concerns the federal 287(g) program, which allows ICE to delegate certain tasks to agents of participating law enforcement agencies.
During a Thursday hearing before the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee, Smith said ICE under the Republican administration of President Donald Trump has become a tool “to vilify immigrants, to stoke fear, to disrupt lives and communities, and to divide us.”