Federal pressure to detain and deport immigrants is transforming how local police and state politicians approach the issue in Maryland, resulting in frequent clashes over whether to cooperate with federal agents.

This year, five county sheriff’s offices entered into new agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as 287(g) agreements, joining three counties that already had longstanding deals with the federal agency. These pacts with ICE have become a flashpoint, and now state legislators have vowed to ban them.

In October, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown issued guidance to police on complying with state law when cooperating with ICE and federal agents. The 12-page guidance covered Maryland’s use of force laws, body camera mandates and the state’s ban on enforcing civil immigration laws while performing regular police functions.

Jeff Gahler, the Harford County sheriff, pushed back against the attorney general’s guidance, calling it “political theater” and “scare tactics” to keep local police from working with ICE to remove undocumented immigrants. Officials from Cecil County have also advocated for the 287(g) program, and Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins has said he’s willing to go to court if a ban passes.

Here’s what we know about these agreements with ICE.

What is 287(g)?

These are voluntary agreements between local or state law enforcement and ICE, allowed by the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act’s Section 287(g). Under the agreements, ICE trains local officers to enforce immigration laws inside their jails.

Frederick County was the first in Maryland to sign on almost two decades ago, according to Ninfa Amador-Hernandez, the Maryland Policy Manager at CASA, a nonprofit that advocates for immigrants.

There are two different ways the program works. One allows jail workers to ask those in custody and charged with a crime about their immigration status and flag noncitizens to ICE. Sheriffs have said this collaboration helps ICE identify criminals.

Advocates say this unfairly targets people who have been charged, but not convicted, of a crime. Between 2016 and 2023, about four out of the 771 people who were detained by ICE in Maryland under the program had what the Department of Homeland Security considered serious criminal convictions, said Stephanie Wolf, director of immigration services at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

The other type of 287(g) deputizes local police to issue “administrative warrants,” which don’t have to be signed by a judge and allow detainment without going through court, Amador-Hernandez said.

Law enforcement in 287(g) agreements can hold immigrants in jails for up to 48 hours until ICE detains them.

The Trump administration increased use of the program in the last year. In November, it expanded the program to include welfare checks on unaccompanied minors.

When children enter the United States, they are often left in the care of relatives already here, who are sometimes also immigrants. Local law enforcement will now find and visit the hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied children on behalf of ICE, according to Homeland Security.

It’s unclear if any law enforcement in Maryland will participate.

Eight counties have signed on to work with ICE

Three counties in Maryland have longstanding 287(g) agreements, and five others signed them this year.

Harford, Cecil and Frederick

Sheriff’s offices in Harford, Cecil and Frederick counties ask immigrant status in jails. All three have been cooperating with ICE since at least 2020, according to a list kept by the federal agency.

Harford County has been working with ICE for eight years, Gahler said. Frederick County signed its first deal with ICE in 2008.

Allegany, Washington, Garrett, St. Mary’s and Carroll

Agreements signed this year by county sheriffs in Allegany, Washington, Garrett, St. Mary’s and Carroll counties all issue administrative warrants.

The state’s other counties

Baltimore County signed a memorandum of understanding with ICE in October that was quickly opposed by many. That MOU is not a 287(g) agreement, and the county said it hasn’t changed the way law enforcement works in the county.

The MOU requires a warrant from a judge to hold someone in the county’s detention center for 48 hours for ICE to arrest them, or it will hold them for 4 hours if ICE issues its own detainer.

This MOU is a typical format that enforcement agencies follow in Maryland, said Amador-Hernandez.

County sheriff’s offices in Prince George’s, Somerset, Montgomery, Calvert, Kent, Caroline and Worcester counties said they did not have any agreements with federal immigration officers. Other county sheriff’s offices did not respond to requests for information.

Howard County has some of the strictest rules for cooperating with federal immigration agents, said Amador-Hernandez. The county’s 2020 Liberty Act prevents county employees from asking about immigration status and requires them to keep some citizenship information confidential.

Wicomico County was on the verge of entering a 287(g) agreement this year, but decided not to in light of the attorney general’s guidance and pushback from the community.

Possible ban on agreements to come

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said he would prioritize a bill to ban 287(g) agreements in the next legislative session.

State legislators made similar efforts last, but legislation did not pass. There is more support this year.

Last session, lawmakers instead passed a bill that requires public schools, libraries and certain public facilities to deny ICE access to some areas of the buildings without a warrant.

But some elected officials, including Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, said they would fight any ban.

“I will do everything I can at the state level to fight that legislation,” said Jenkins in an interview with 930 WFMD Free Talk in November. “I will mobilize sheriffs, police chiefs, every resource I can.”