Moore will let Community Trust Act become law without his signature

Gov. Wes Moore (D) will let two major immigration-related bills become law without his signature, saying Friday he supports their objectives but has concerns about how they will be implemented.

The statement from the governor Friday came four days after two dozen immigrant advocacy and civil rights groups wrote Moore, urging him to sign the Community Trust Act and the Data Privacy Act into law. Those measures were priorities during this year’s legislative session in Annapolis.

The governor is scheduled to have his fourth, and final, bill signing for this year on Tuesday.

The governor’s statement specifically addresses the Community Trust Act, but his office confirmed the Data Privacy Act will also become law without his signature. Both bills passed on the last day of this year’s legislative session.

The Community Trust Act, sponsored by Sen. Clarence Lame (D-Anne Arundel and Howard), would end the practice of accepting administrative warrants from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to hold detainees. Under the law, local law enforcement officials would only be obligated to recognize a judicial warrant.

Despite threats, Maryland sheriffs quickly dropped 287(g) agreements with ICE

The act has been called as a complement to the emergency bill passed and signed early in the legislative session that banned so-called 287(g) agreements. formal cooperation agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies.

The nine counties that had those agreements initially threatened to challenge that law in court, although eight quickly ended them and the ninth, Washington County, said it will not enforce the agreement even though it’s still on the books. But several sheriffs also suggested that they would just continue cooperating with ICE, but on an informal basis.

That threat was one of the driving forces between the Community Trust Act for lawmakers who said it would head off any such informal cooperation.

Moore said in his statement that he agrees with the bill’s goal of keeping local police focused on local crime, and that the state should “not let untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work.”

But he also said the bill “presents real implementation challenges that must be addressed through executive action and in next year’s legislative session.”

“Protecting our communities requires seamless coordination among federal, state, and local partners, and the bill creates ambiguities around joint investigations that we are working with the [Maryland] Attorney General’s office to clarify,” his statement said. “Local law enforcement must also retain the flexibility they need to operate within the law, share appropriate information, and keep communities safe.”

Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) called Moore’s refusal to sign the bill “an acknowledgement that this bill is a reckless attack on law enforcement in this state.”

“Governor Moore should have the courage to veto this overreach by his allies in the General Assembly Democratic supermajority,” Ready posted on X. “Unfortunately serving extreme left national political interests comes ahead of public safety in Annapolis.”

The Data Privacy Act, sponsored by Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), seeks to close loopholes in the state’s Public Information Act to prohibit a business from selling personal data of an individual “for the purpose of immigration enforcement.” Lam sponsored the Senate version of the bill, which cleared the Senate on the last day of the session but did not advance in the House.

The immigrant advocacy group We Are CASA helped lead the push to get both measures passed this year, including a rally at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis several days before the last day of the 90-day session last month.

CASA’s Executive Director George Escobar said in a statement Friday both measures represent a new chapter in Maryland’s history.

“Today is a major victory for immigrant families and for the thousands of Marylanders who organized, testified, marched, and shared their stories to make these protections a reality,” he said. “We Are CASA is proud to have built the broad coalition that refused to stop fighting for the safety, dignity, and privacy every family deserves. The Community Trust Act and the Data Privacy Act are becoming law because our communities bravely spoke out and refused to give up.”

The Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus also released a statement welcoming the new law, even though that law will take effect without the governor’s signature.

“While we would have welcomed a bill signing ceremony, let us be clear: What matters most is the policy, and today, the policy won,” according to caucus statement.