WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. -- On Tuesday night, the future of a proposed 287(g) agreement was in the hands of the county council. Officials have been working towards finalizing the agreement between the county and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since July.
A few changes have been made along the way.
Initially, the county was looking at the Jail Enforcement Model, but continued conversations between the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office and the County Executive's Office eventually led to the decision to move forward with the Warrant Service Officer program.
If it's finalized, the agreement would be between ICE and the Wicomico County Department of Corrections.
County Executive Julie Giordano has made it clear for months now that she intends to sign this agreement, and this week, that might happen.
"We're going to move forward if it's solely in my hands, I've already made that decision," said Giordano. "I've said it from day one that I support the sheriff in this initiative."
However, the decision will not fall solely on Giordano. On Tuesday night, the Wicomico County Council decided it would like a resolution drafted for review, likely not until the first council meeting in November.
According to Giordano, the county's charter requires council approval on agreements lasting longer than one year. However, she said the 287(g) agreement is ambiguous because the Memorandum of Agreement does not include a set timeline.
"It's sort of to infinity until somebody ends the agreement," said Giordano.
In a nearly five hour long meeting, the Council decided it would have input, putting the agreement before a formal vote, not expected until their next meeting on October 21st at the earliest.
"If I solely make the decision, that's fine," said Giordano. "If the council is going to do avote on it next council meeting, then that's fine too."
Council President John Cannon said most of the Council is on board with this, but they still have questions.
"We just want to get some final answers so that we can move forward with this program, either move forward with it or not," said Cannon.
We followed up and asked Cannon if he could see an avenue where the agreement isn't finalized, especially considering the public pushback over the past few weeks.
"I don't think it's that difficult, I can't see why we can't get on board and get things moving," said Cannon. "It's just not that complicated."
There are Wicomico County council members opposed to this idea, including Josh Hastings.
Hastings provided the following statement to WBOC on Tuesday:
"As an agreement that could significantly impact the finances of Wicomico County, I personally believe this is something the Council should vote on. With situations like that of Easton's Pastor Fuentes, or masked ICE abductions at legal immigration court hearings, ICE's credibility could not be lower.
For 30+ years, neither political party has passed any meaningful federal immigration reform. Until they do, abducting peaceful, working, Shore residents is an absolute waste of taxpayer money."
Critics of this agreement continue to voice their concerns, but feel like they've fallen on deaf ears.
"They've been beating around the bush on this thing for long enough, you know, just make a decision, do what you're going to do" said Monica Brooks, President of the Wicomico County Chapter of the NAACP. "But, understand and know if you push this forward, it's going to send a very damaging message to our community, and 2026 elections are coming up and we will vote our conscience."
An agreement with ICE, inching closer to be finalized.
