A controversial immigration bill is moving through Annapolis, drawing praise from immigrant advocates and pushback from law enforcement voices, including some tied to the Eastern Shore.
Senate Bill 791, known as the Community Trust Act, passed second reading with amendments in the Maryland Senate on Friday after earlier advancing out of the Judicial Proceedings Committee. The bill would place new limits on how state and local agencies can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Its House cross-file is HB 1575.
Supporters say the legislation is about due process and creating one statewide standard.
“The Community Trust Act is a landmark piece of legislation that is going to limit the way that Maryland is partnering with ICE,” Cathryn Paul, public policy director for We Are CASA, told WBOC on Friday.
Paul said the goal is to stop Maryland from using local resources to support deportation efforts and to make sure protections do not change from county to county.
“One of the things that is absolutely critical to this bill is that it creates a statewide standard, which means if you live in Montgomery County, but you’re driving into the Eastern Shore, you are not losing your rights,” Paul said.
According to the bill’s fiscal and policy note, the measure would prohibit employees and agents of state and local correctional facilities from taking certain immigration-enforcement-related actions, with exceptions. It would also bar law enforcement officers, while carrying out regular police duties, from notifying federal immigration authorities that someone is in custody unless required by a valid court order. The measure would require correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies to adopt policies consistent with the law.
Advocates say those changes are necessary as immigration enforcement concerns grow.
“We are living in a time where our community members are under attack every single day,” Paul said. “We can no longer allow Maryland to play a role” in actions that harm immigrant families.
But opponents argue the bill could interfere with public safety and coordination with federal authorities in serious criminal cases.
During debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Mary Beth Carozza of District 38 pointed to testimony from Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli and warned the bill would create “operational barriers at the most critical stage, custody management.”
Carozza also said, “SB 791 increases the likelihood that individuals with serious criminal histories could be released back into the community before federal authorities can act lawfully within their jurisdiction.”
Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins voiced broader opposition during a committee hearing last month.
“I would just again, strongly oppose this bill, as every Maryland sheriff does,” Jenkins said.
The bill cleared a Senate panel in reworked form as supporters pressed lawmakers to act before the end of the legislative session.
The fight now is over whether the Community Trust Act is needed to protect constitutional rights or whether it would go too far by limiting how local agencies work with federal immigration authorities. On the Eastern Shore, where sheriffs and local leaders have weighed in, that debate is no longer confined to Annapolis.