Howard County passes bills to ban private buildings as detention centers, limit ICE's impact

The Howard County Council voted Thursday to pass two emergency bills aimed at impeding federal immigration enforcement in the county.

Before voting, county council members thanked the community for coming out to support the bills, also pointing to the Trump administration's heightened immigration enforcement as a reason the bills needed to be passed right now.

One of the bills would prevent privately owned buildings from being used as detention centers. It was introduced after the county inspected a building in Elkridge that County Executive Calvin Ball said was being renovated to become a detention facility. The county has since revoked the permit from a third-party company.

This bill was passed unanimously.

The renovations initially raised concerns after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bought a warehouse in Washington County that the agency said would be used as a detention center. 

The second bill, introduced by Councilwoman Liz Walsh, is aimed at limiting ICE access to county facilities and properties, as well as banning any kind of ICE agreement with any county agency. 

It was approved in a 4-1 vote, with councilman David Yungmann voting no. Yungmann and councilwoman Deb Jung shared concerns from county employees and the need to discuss the bill further before the vote.

"Create a situation where you are obligated to potentially interfere with law enforcement or lose your job in real time seems like an absurd obligation to lay on employees," Yungmann said.

After nearly facing a tabled vote, the bill passed, setting guidelines and establishing phone numbers and a hierarchy of how employees will let county leaders know about ICE in their communities.

"It's going to be very important to have signs that display how ICE is not allowed, and have clear lines of delineation because people are very vulnerable," Howard County resident Carla Gates said.

Since their introduction, the bills have had overwhelming support from the public.

"I think the immigrants in our community are probably going to breathe a sigh of relief tonight in Howard County and I think their allies and neighbors are also relieved," said Howard County resident Tina Horn, Luminus's chief external affairs officer.

Ball will be signing them into law on Friday morning.

Keeping detention centers out

Ball introduced his emergency bill following the inspection of the Elkridge building in the 6500 block of Meadowridge Road.

"The creation of privately-owned detention facilities anywhere in our county and state raises serious concerns about health, welfare, and oversight that must be addressed," Ball said.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for ICE said the agency had no plans to buy a facility or open a detention center in Howard County.

But the spokesperson adds ICE is "actively working" to expand detention space in the country.

A third-party company received the permit to renovate parts of the building in August 2025.

The building permit said the renovations included "improvement of tenant spaces, supported areas, detention facility, detainee processing, and secured waiting areas," Ball said.

On Wednesday, hundreds of residents showed up to share their thoughts about the legislation and detention centers during a hearing.

"These types of transactions can't happen under everyone's noses," said Councilmember Opel Jones. "It needs to be out in the forefront. We need to notify the public, give it time, and be able to say yay or nay, we do like this or not."

Luminus Network, an immigration legal services nonprofit, advocated for this week's bills.

"22.5%, something like that, of [Howard County residents] are foreign-born. Almost three-in-ten of us speak a language other than English at home. This is a lively, diverse, rich community. That's worth defending," Horn said.

While there was a lot of support, there were also concerns brought up at Wednesday's public hearing, particularly about potential retaliation because of these bills.

Maryland Sen. Justin Ready also told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren this week that local detention centers could keep detainees in Maryland.

"If they don't do it here you're gonna have [ICE] sending all these people further out-of-state and further away from family members," Ready said.

Horn said she sees that point of view, but also said the emergency bills are necessary to change immigration enforcement in the country.

"[Passing these bills are] a step [to show] we don't want [these detention centers] nationwide. The dominos fall down one at a time," she said. "As we begin to shrink the number of places where this is acceptable, we begin to destroy the system."

History of anti-ICE legislation

These emergency bills are just the latest showing of Howard County standing up against ICE enforcement.

Back in 2020, Howard County Council passed the Liberty Act. This law bars county agencies from collecting or sharing immigration and citizenship information, as well as assisting with detaining or deporting individuals.

Voters overwhelming approved it via referendum in 2022. Luminus also advocated for its passage back then.

"I think we're standing for our neighbors, I think we are standing for the diversity, and that's thrilling," Horn said.