Maryland supporters of a bill said they would increase the trust between immigrants and local law enforcement pushed to move the measure out of the Senate committee on Monday, as opponents underscored their reasons for trying to stop the bill.
Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and also Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler came to Annapolis to outline the reasons for they oppose the bill. They said the bill will impede the local jails from holding people on immigration detainers and also make the state “a magnet” for people in the country illegally with the criminal records.
Frederick and Harford counties would be exempt from the bill, because both the counties are participating in the federal government’s 287 (g) program.
Under the program, the Department of Homeland Security trains thea local law enforcement to perform the work of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Still, Jenkins and Gahler said that they are concerned the bill could be changed in the session’s last days.
But lawmakers who support the bill said it would prevent the law enforcement from detaining the people solely to ask about their immigration status.
They also said it would stop jails from holding arrestees for 48 hours longer than when they normally would be released without the probable cause, simply because the federal immigration officials make a request.
Sen. Susan Lee, the Montgomery County Democrat who is on a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee where the bill has been stuck in recent days, said she is confident enough people on the committee want to move the bill forward.
“We still have some days left in session. I think there’s still a chance for passage,” said Lee.The session is scheduled to end on April 10.
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Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has said that the bill would not pass the Senate in the form it passed the House. While the Calvert County Democrat has expressed the support for some of the bill’s provisions, he has said that “Maryland is not going to become a sanctuary state.”The term “sanctuary” in the immigration debate is loosely defined but it generally means local officials do not cooperate with federal authorities on immigration matters such as the requests that local jails hold a suspect while the authorities investigate their immigration status. The issue has set off with a wide debate around the country.
The legislation in Maryland is being considered at the time when a rape case that allegedly happened in the bathroom of a Maryland high school has received the national attention after the White House called it an example of why President Donald Trump wants to crack down on the illegal immigration. Officials said one of the suspects charged in the case came to the U.S. from the Guatemala illegally.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
