Maryland sheriffs filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a new state law that forbids them from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Seventeen of Maryland’s 23 sheriffs joined the legal challenge against the Community Trust Act, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from contacting Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents about illegal immigrants jailed on criminal charges.
The law also requires federal authorities to secure a warrant before local agencies can transfer custody of an illegal immigrant.
The filing notes that the law’s requirement that federal authorities obtain a “narrow judicial warrant” excludes administrative warrants issued by the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice.
“These prohibitions apply even to individuals convicted of serious felonies, sex offenses, or other crimes for which federal law mandates detention and removal,” the lawsuit reads.
Further, state and local police in Maryland cannot ask about a person’s immigration or citizenship status during stops, arrests or searches.
“These prohibitions intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart Plaintiffs’ obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” the lawsuit says. “Maryland’s blatant defiance of federal immigration law is not merely a political disagreement or passive abstention; it is deliberate, disruptive action that jeopardizes the public safety of all Americans.”
Sheriff’s offices in the city of Baltimore and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Charles, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties did not sign on to the agreement.
A supermajority of the General Assembly supported the Community Trust Act, which allowed the legislation to become law without Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.
The Democratic governor said he didn’t sign the bill because it “creates ambiguities around joint investigations that we are working with the Attorney General’s office to clarify.”
