Maryland lawmakers closer to passing roadblock to ICE deportation effort
The Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill that will prohibit agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) from entering sensitive locations without a warrant.
The legislation, Senate Bill 828, which will ban ICE agents from schools, libraries and churches unless the agency is able to obtain a warrant, passed the Democratic-dominated House of Delegates on a 98-39 vote.
It now returns to the state Senate where, if approved as amended, it will proceed to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore's desk.
The bill comes as President Donald Trump has ramped up deportation efforts across the country, seeking to make good on a campaign promise that became central to his third bid for the White House.
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That effort has led to over 100,000 deportations between when Trump took office on Jan. 20 and the end of March, according to numbers provided to Newsweek, a number that was already over a third of the 271,000 deported during the final year of the Biden administration.
But Maryland lawmakers are putting a roadblock in front of that effort, with the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature arguing that ICE tactics have spread fear through local communities.
"People in my community have been afraid for far too long," Democratic Delegate Karen Simpson told Fox affiliate WBFF. "I am thankful to everyone in this body who has voted for this so that we can get rid of 287(g) who has scared our community."
The new legislation also incorporates Maryland’s House Bill 1222, which seeks to eliminate ICE’s 287(g) program from being used in the state. That program allows local law enforcement agencies to partner with ICE and assist in immigration enforcement efforts, including cooperating with ICE detainers that instruct local jurisdictions to hold illegal immigrants in jail until they can be apprehended by ICE for deportation proceedings.
The legislation was opposed by Republican Delegate Kathy Szeliga, who told WBFF that the bill was nothing more than "fear mongering by the left" that is "stirring up the immigrant community."
Szeliga was able to successfully add an amendment to the legislation that would ensure that criminal illegal aliens who are on the state’s sex offender registry would be turned over to ICE, though that provision would not go into effect until June 1.
The legislation will not return to the Senate, where Szeliga believes it will pass despite opposition to such amendments.
"I hear that the Senate doesn’t love the bill the way it’s been amended. But I believe that they will pass this bill," Szeliga said.
The Maryland Senate has until midnight tonight to vote on SB 828 before the Maryland General Assembly adjourns for the year. If passed, it heads to Moore's desk.
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for ICE said the agency does not comment on legislation.