We are in the final days and hours of the Maryland legislative session and we are running out of time to pass protections for our immigrant community.
PLEASE call Senator Ferguson (410-841-3600) and Senator Will Smith (410-841-3634) and demand they bring HB 1222 to a vote to end the 287g program and prohibit our local law enforcement from serving as ICE agents.
We have all heard of the unconstitutional actions ICE has committed in Maryland, several in the last two weeks alone. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested and deported without any due process or criminal charges. He was forcefully and illegally removed from his spouse and special needs child and sent to a Salvadorian concentration camp. He has no criminal record. The federal government has admitted that he shouldn’t have been deported. And just two days ago, a 52 year old Maryland mother with no criminal record had her car window smashed in by ICE, and forced out of her car while her child pleaded for her mother. This happened in Carroll County, the latest sheriff’s department to join ICE in a 287g partnership that forces local law enforcement to serve as ICE agents instead of focusing on the real public safety needs of our communities.
Marylanders deserve to be protected from the lawless approach that ICE is increasing daily. Marylanders deserve to have their elected officials pass laws that would end these violent partnerships between local law enforcement and ICE.
Thankfully, HB 1222 would do just that. This bill already passed the House. Senate President Bill Ferguson, and Senator Will Smith, must bring this bill for a vote and take a stand against a lawless federal administration that has already punished Marylanders. They’ve denied nearly half a billion in public school reimbursements, they’ve fired thousands of Marylanders for diligently doing their federal work, they have denied federal building construction. When any Marylander’s due process rights are violated all of us are threatened. When any one person is unlawfully deported, we all risk deportation. It’s time to stand up to the bullies!
