BALTIMORE, Md. - The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Maryland seeking to block the state's newly enacted Community Trust Act, arguing the act unlawfully interferes with federal immigration enforcement and violates the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, July 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, names the State of Maryland and Attorney General Anthony Brown as defendants. It asks a federal judge to declare portions of the Community Trust Act unconstitutional and permanently prohibit the state from enforcing them.
The Justice Department argues the law makes Maryland a so-called "sanctuary state" by restricting how state and local law enforcement agencies cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Community Trust Act generally prohibits local correctional facilities from detaining individuals for ICE based solely on an immigration detainer, transferring individuals to federal immigration authorities, or notifying ICE someone is in custody unless presented with a judicial warrant or court order. The law also limits when law enforcement officers can share information with federal immigration authorities or inquire about a person's immigration status.
The suit is the second legal challenge to the Community Trust Act. In May, all of the Eastern Shore’s sheriffs joined a federal lawsuit seeking to reverse the new immigration enforcement restrictions.
In its complaint, the Justice Department argues those restrictions directly conflict with federal immigration law, which authorizes ICE to use administrative warrants and detainers that do not require approval from a judge.
"The Community Trust Act unlawfully interferes with, regulates, and discriminates against the Federal Government's enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause," the complaint reads.
Worcester County jail cited in complaint
The lawsuit specifically highlights Worcester County as an example of how the federal government says the law has already affected immigration enforcement on the Eastern Shore. According to the suit, on May 29, 2026, the warden of the Worcester County Jail in Snow Hill informed ICE that the facility would no longer honor immigration detainers, notify ICE when inmates were ready for release, or transfer detainees into federal custody because of the Community Trust Act.
The Justice Department says that decision resulted in ICE being unable to take custody of an individual during a scheduled pickup that morning.
"As a direct result, the facility denied a scheduled ICE pickup that morning and did not release the individual in question to ICE custody," the complaint alleges.
The federal government cites the incident to argue the Maryland law is already preventing cooperation between local correctional facilities and federal immigration authorities.
Four constitutional claims
The lawsuit raises four central legal claims against Maryland:
-The Community Trust Act is expressly preempted by federal immigration law.
-The law conflicts with Congress' immigration enforcement framework.
-Maryland is unlawfully regulating the federal government by requiring judicial warrants where federal law does not.
-The law unlawfully discriminates against federal immigration authorities by singling them out for restrictions.
“Such blatant disregard for federal laws that have been on the books for decades is not merely a political disagreement or passive abstention; it is deliberate, disruptive action that jeopardizes the public safety for all Americans,” the Trump Administration argues. “The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits a state from obstructing Congress and the Executive in this manner.”
What happens next?
The Justice Department is asking the federal court to declare the challenged provisions of the Community Trust Act invalid, permanently block Maryland from enforcing those provisions, and award the federal government its litigation costs.
Maryland officials have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit in court. WBOC reached out to Governor Wes Moore’s office for comment on Friday.
"While we cannot comment on active litigation, Governor Moore has been clear: Maryland will work with the federal government when that coordination makes our people safer – but we will not let Donald Trump’s untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work," Moore's Senior Communications Strategist Rhyan Lake said. "While Trump’s ICE has ripped mothers out of cars and detained five-year-olds, Maryland’s law allows our law enforcement to continue working with federal officers to get violent offenders off our streets, remain focused on the work that has helped drive historic reductions in violent crime, and protect fundamental civil rights. Maryland will always protect constitutional rights and give law enforcement the tools they need to keep people safe."
Moore's office denied the Trump Administration's assertion that Maryland is a sanctuary state and emphasized that local law enforcement can still coordinate with ICE when people convicted of serious crimes were involved. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown previously issued guidance for Maryland law enforcement on when ICE must be notified and when coordination is prohibited.
