Maryland GOP, sheriffs warn of ICE activity surge without immigration-officer deal

Katharine Wilson, The Baltimore Sun on Jan 20, 2026

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BALTIMORE — Several Maryland sheriffs and Republican state lawmakers say Maryland Democrats’ push to end local immigration contracts could increase the presence of federal officers in their communities.

“Instead of this transfer taking place in prison, in the jails, it’s going to be taken somewhere on the street where ICE is having to come in and look for them,” Sen. J.B. Jennings, a Republican representing Baltimore and Harford counties, said in a Tuesday news conference.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, along with several other Democrats, is pushing a bill to prohibit local governments and county sheriffs from entering into federal immigration enforcement agreements. A hearing on the bill to eradicate the agreements is set for Thursday. It will be considered by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which is led by Sen. William Smith, a co-sponsor of the bill and a Democrat representing Montgomery County. The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill last year to limit the additional time counties can hold some inmates suspected of being in the country illegally for ICE to 48 hours.

Eight counties in the state have 287(g) contracts with the federal government, where county sheriffs alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they process people who are believed to be in the country illegally. The participating counties are Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, St. Mary’s, and Washington counties.

Sheriffs told reporters on Tuesday that 287(g) agreements help confine immigration enforcement operations to jails, instead of large raids seen in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago. Maryland sheriffs have said previously that without the program, crime could also increase.

Ending the policy, Frederick County Republican Sen. William Folden said, would make Maryland a “sanctuary state” and subject to levels of ICE activity like those in Minnesota.

There has been a surge in immigration enforcement in Minnesota’s Twin Cities in recent weeks. Incidents in Minnesota, such as the shooting of Renee Good, have led to nationwide protests against ICE. A rally is set for Tuesday afternoon against a rumored planned immigration detention facility in Hagerstown. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney, both Democrats, will be in attendance.

“If this legislature passes…this bill, you may well see what you’re seeing on television across the country; none of us want that,” Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said at the news conference on Tuesday.

ICE is already in Maryland communities every day, and any increase in their presence would be a decision from President Donald Trump, Smith told The Sun on Tuesday. The local agreements, he said, have an “adverse impact on public safety,” because they make people afraid to interact with law enforcement.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth in terms of public safety or having more ICE agents come in, that’s the prerogative of the president. He’s going to do whatever he wants to do,” Smith said.

There is an existing federal government program, called the Criminal Alien Program, that already searches through databases of people convicted of a crime for possible deportation proceedings.

The 287(g) agreements, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said, involve correctional officers, not law enforcement officers in Maryland. The sheriff added not every person reported to ICE by the county are actually detained by federal authorities. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, Gahler also said he’s concerned that people who have not committed a crime, other than entering the country illegally, could get caught in the crosshairs of immigration enforcement in Maryland.

“When the federal government comes to do the job, they’re not just looking for the criminal people who have violated criminal law; they’re looking for everyone who has entered illegally,” Gahler said. “I think you’re going to see more sweeping enforcement by ICE in jurisdictions, like what you’re seeing in Minneapolis.”

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