The Trump administration declared Baltimore and more than a dozen other Maryland towns and counties as “sanctuary jurisdictions” on Thursday, a designation that throws the federal money they receive into question.

In addition to Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties were named sanctuary jurisdictions. So were the municipalities of Annapolis, Cheverly, College Park, Edmonston, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, Rockville and Takoma Park.

The escalation in the fight to implement a sweeping immigration crackdown follows President Trump’s executive order last month directing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to compile a list of sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the country so the federal government could then move to eliminate federal grants and contracts they receive.

Leaders around Maryland had braced for the designation for months after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller sent letters in early January to various county and city officials warning them to change their policies about immigration enforcement, or face consequences.

Mayor Brandon Scott released a statement Thursday evening threatening to sue the Trump administration over the designation. The city gets hundreds of millions in funding from the federal government for public safety and housing, among other initiatives.

“Baltimore remains committed to protecting the rights, dignity and well-being of all of our residents,” Scott said. “We are exploring all options to protect our immigrant neighbors and the funding appropriated to our city by Congress, including litigation.”

City leaders have maintained Baltimore is not a so-called “sanctuary city” because it does not have control over its jail; the state does. Typically, sanctuary jurisdictions are places that have a policy of not honoring ICE detainers — requests from immigration officials to hold a person suspected of being in the country illegally in custody past when they would otherwise be released.

While some places have laws prohibiting local resources from being used to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement execute federal immigration law, Baltimore does not.

Baltimore does have sanctuary-adjacent policies, though. City agencies, including police officers, do not ask people their immigration status as part of routine procedures.

Howard County drew criticism from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials this week for twice releasing a Honduran national convicted of rape. A spokesperson said officials were following a 2020 county ordinance.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball’s office declined to respond Thursday to the Trump administration’s designation.

Thursday’s announcement comes less than a month after White House advisor Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” suggested elected officials around the country could face investigation and arrest if they don’t cooperate with ICE.

“You can not support what we’re doing, and you can support sanctuary cities if that’s what you want to do, but if you cross that line to impediment or knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a felony and we’re treating it as such,” Homan said.

Although towns and counties can enter into agreements to cooperate with ICE, Gov. Wes Moore has previously argued that the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from requiring state and local officials to enforce immigration law.

The Trump administration also listed Maryland as a self-identifying sanctuary jurisdiction, but it’s unclear what that means.

Scott, addressing the threat of arrest previously, said he would not direct any city resources to helping the Trump administration carry out its immigration agenda.

This is a developing story.