Baltimore County’s Democratic-led council voted along party lines to bar county employees from assisting federal immigration agents, sending the legislation to the county executive amid renewed threats from President Donald Trump to withhold federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions.
On February 2, the seven-member council approved two measures designed to protect illegal aliens from immigration enforcement, including a bill that prohibits county employees from helping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The vote was 4-3, with the four Democrats in favor and three Republicans opposed, according to reporting by local outlet WYPR.
Democrat Izzy Patoka, who sponsored the legislation and is also seeking the county’s top office, said, “We have to fight back at the local level. … And that’s what we’re going to do here. So we’re going to put guardrails up against ICE activities in Baltimore County and also guardrails up in terms of how much our agencies can engage with ICE,” according to WYPR.
Republican Councilman David Marks expressed concerns following the vote, noting that previous county executives had established a framework for collaboration with the federal government.
Marks stated, “I have serious concerns about the potential consequences of ending that relationship,” per WYPR.
The bills now go to Democratic County Executive Kathy Klausmeier, who must decide whether to sign or veto them. Her press secretary, Dakarai Turner, said the measure prohibiting county employees from helping ICE “affirms existing policies and practices in County government. Baltimore County does not enforce immigration law or ask about immigration or citizenship status unless required by state or federal law,” according to WYPR.
The local action comes as Trump has threatened to cut “significant” federal funding to sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. However, he has not specified which funds would be targeted or how many jurisdictions might be affected, according to reporting by NPR.
There are varying definitions of a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, which can include cities, counties, and states, but the term generally refers to jurisdictions that limit cooperation with ICE enforcement efforts.
Courts have held that while local authorities cannot block federal agents from carrying out immigration enforcement, they are not required to actively assist them.
In Texas, some cities have chosen the opposite path. Keller became the largest Texas city to formally partner with ICE under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to collaborate with federal immigration officers to identify and detain criminal illegal aliens, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
There is a fine distinction between declining to assist federal immigration enforcement and actively obstructing it. President Trump has recently threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota amid unrest tied to ICE operations, according to reporting by Fox News.
The text of the law states that it could be used when “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable to enforce the laws.”
Baltimore County’s legislation does not purport to block federal agents from operating in the county but seeks to limit the role of local employees in those efforts.
