Advocates rally for Maryland immigration enforcement bill before legislative session ends

With just days left in the 2026 Maryland legislative session, immigrant rights advocates rallied Wednesday in support of a bill that they said should be a number one priority. 

The Community Trust Act aims to keep local law enforcement from serving as an arm of federal immigration enforcement. 

There have been a number of bills during this legislative session that aim to protect immigrant communities against the Trump administration's ramped-up immigration enforcement policies. 

The Community Trust Act is one of dozens that advocates want to see sent to Gov. Wes Moore's desk before Sine Die – or the end of the legislative session – on Monday. 

Need for the Community Trust Act

For the non-profit We Are CASA and other advocates, the Community Trust Act, like the other immigration bills introduced this legislative session, is about protecting families. 

Like the family of Evan, a 10-year-old We Are CASA member from Baltimore County. His uncle was deported to Honduras last year.

"Before he got deported, my mom took my brother and me to visit him when he was in detention," Evan said. "It was a scary place. I asked my mom if we could bring Uncle Mynor back home with us."

Evan was among several who spoke at a rally in support of the Community Trust Act at Lawyers Mall.

The bill would bar local law enforcement from detaining people on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as sharing personal data and other resources for federal immigration enforcement.

It's up to the State Senate to get it to the Governor's desk.

"The Maryland Senate has five days, the Maryland legislature has five days," said We Are CASA Executive Director George Escobar. "Five days to decide what they stand for."

Bills in wait

There are dozens of other immigration-related bills still waiting to be voted on.

One of them is Sen. Clarence Lam's Data Privacy Act bill. This would bar businesses from selling personal data for the purpose of immigration enforcement.

Other bills aim to prohibit state and local governments from approving construction or operation of private detention facilities unless certain zoning requirements are met, as well as establishing a minimum standard of car for detention facility detainees.

Critiquing Maryland's immigration bills

There have been many critics of the dozens of immigration bills this legislative session.

One of the louder voices came from Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler, who's had a 287(g) agreement with ICE for years.

The 287(g) agreements in the state are set to sunset this summer after the legislature passed an emergency bill to ban them. The governor signed it into law in February.

Gahler has said this is going to let dangerous people slip through the cracks.

"There'll be those who won't get hit that our delegation of authority would have allowed us to identify that will not be happening now," Gahler said in a past interview with WJZ. 

"Those individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security will be walking out of our jails and into your community."

Critics have also argued these bills will only make the Trump Administration's target on Maryland bigger, potentially opening the door to more federal immigration enforcement.