Trump wants to deport millions; Maryland counties are sharply split on whether to help

BALTIMORE — Maryland counties are sharply divided over whether to assist President-elect Donald Trump with what he says will be the largest deportation program in American history.

A Baltimore Sun survey found widely divergent responses to Trump’s proposal — from Harford County’s pledge to “fully support” his efforts to Anne Arundel County’s commitment to keep local law enforcement “separate” from federal immigration actions.

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump transition spokeswoman who will be White House press secretary, said this week that Trump will “marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history.”

The Republican president-elect indicated in a Truth Social post that he was prepared to declare a national border emergency and use the military in the operation.

If Trump follows through with his program as promised, local jurisdictions will be left with the politically charged decision of whether to assist federal agents if asked.

“Our philosophy is the federal government does immigration enforcement; local government has a lot of other responsibilities and that’s not one of them,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, a Democrat, said in an interview. “So we’ll wait and see what they ask, or if they even do.”

Pittman said he was concerned the police department would lose the trust of people it hoped to serve if it entered into “the business of deporting people.”

Immigration has been a politically charged issue in the state since the capture in June of Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a native of El Salvador who entered the United States unlawfully and is accused of killing Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five whose body was found in August 2023 near the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Harford County.

“I fully support the president-elect’s intention to stop and reverse illegal immigration, which is a humanitarian catastrophe and a dangerous violation of our national sovereignty,” Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly told The Sun in an email. “In Harford County, where murder is fortunately rare, two innocent young women were brutally raped and murdered by men who entered this country illegally.”

Cassilly, a Republican, referred to Morin and Kayla Hamilton, a 20-year-old Aberdeen woman with high-functioning autism who was murdered in 2022. Walter Javier Martinez, 19, pleaded guilty in August. He had illegally entered the U.S. from El Salvador in March 2022, according to the Harford County state’s attorney’s office.

None of the counties surveyed by The Sun said they would resist cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to capture and detain potentially dangerous criminal suspects.

But, while counties cannot legally block federal agents from entering their jurisdictions, they can resist joining forces with them.

“I would hope that if we got ordered to do something we thought was illegal that our first step would be to try to go to court to get it blocked,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a Democrat, said in an interview.

“I’ve got to make sure my resources take care of the people in Montgomery County; I do not want to displace resources from the service of the people who live here when the president has at his disposal unlimited money and unlimited resources,” Elrich said.

In Howard County, local law enforcement is barred from assisting ICE in immigration enforcement under the county code.

“As always, we will adhere to federal and state laws. Should there be changes under a Trump administration, we will evaluate how to ensure compliance with federal law,” Safa Hira, director of communications for Howard County government, said in an email statement.

Matthew Elliston, the Baltimore field office director for ICE, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

In Baltimore County, an aide to Johnny Olszewski, the county executive just elected to Congress, referred a reporter to a 2017 executive order that remains in effect. The order says the county police force “prides itself on the positive relationship that it has maintained with the county’s resident population, including its immigrant community.”

The order limits police involvement in immigration cases but emphasizes that police would not be restrained “from investigating violations of criminal law.”

In Carroll County, a statement issued on behalf of Commissioners’ President Ken Kiler said the board “recognizes that the matter of deportation falls under the jurisdiction of federal authorities and law enforcement agencies. As such, it is not within the scope of local government policies to address this issue.”

In Baltimore, a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott and City Council President-elect Zeke Cohen did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Studies by the Pew Research Center and others have placed the number of unauthorized immigrants at around 11 million.

They fall into different categories, including people who were unauthorized and never apprehended, and those who were processed and ordered to report for a court hearing on their bid to gain asylum. Some may have worked in the United States for years and be part of families where other members are documented. Others may have received protections under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program with an uncertain future that protected people brought to the country as children from deportation.

“The current mandate under President Biden is for ICE to focus on those with criminal convictions,” said Colleen Putzell-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “There aren’t necessarily any firm plans but, based on what Tom Homan— Trump’s border czar — has said, that would be where the Trump administration would start.”

While that would not represent a significant policy change, it may mean that ICE resources now mostly used at the border “would be redirected towards the interior,” Putzell-Kavanaugh said.

She and others said there is fear among immigrant groups that mass deportation could extend well beyond those with criminal convictions and include “people who are parts of communities, potentially parts of mixed-status families where some people are U.S. citizens and others aren’t, and people who go to work every day in really important industries.”

Offiicials in Gov. Wes Moore’s administration declined interview requests but issued a statement saying the governor comes “from a family of immigrants” and feels “deeply connected” to the immigrant story.

“There is currently a lot of speculation going around about how the new federal administration plans to address immigration policy,” Moore’s statement said. “As governor, I have an obligation to protect Marylanders, including members of our immigrant communities. I take that obligation seriously and will wait to see what actions the new administration takes on immigration policy.”

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Baltimore Sun reporters Natalie Jones, Kiersten Hacker and Brennan Stewart contributed to this article.

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