By Adam Thompson, Dennis Valera, JT Moodee Lockman

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    MARYLAND (WJZ) -- Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed two emergency bills into law on Tuesday, ending 287(g) agreements, which allow law enforcement agencies to partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The new law prevents state agencies and employees from entering into 287(g) agreements and orders that all existing agreements end by July 2026.

"In Maryland, we will not allow untrained, unqualified and unaccountable agents to deputize our brave local law enforcement officers because Maryland is a community of immigrants. It is not our weakness," Gov. Moore said Tuesday.

It comes amid an ongoing federal crackdown on immigration enforcement led by the Trump administration.

In Maryland, nine counties participate in 287(g) agreements, including Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Washington, Wicomico and St. Mary's counties.

There are different types of 287(g) agreements, including some that grant police officials permission to ask about immigration status during an arrest, and others that allow officers to carry out immigration enforcement duties.

There are two kinds of these agreements utilized in Maryland. One allows corrections officers at local jails to flag a noncitizen who is arrested to ICE and detain them for 48 hours. The other allows officers to serve and execute warrants on those who are jailed.

"This legislation does not authorize the release of criminals," Moore said. "It does not prevent Maryland from working with the federal government to hold violent offenders accountable."

"We do not take violent offenders lightly. We are going to make sure our communities are safe from people who are doing violent harm to them," the governor continued. "We will continue to coordinate on shared public safety priorities, including the lawful removal of non-citizen offenders who pose a risk to public safety."

CASA, an immigration advocacy group, rallied with lawmakers ahead of the bill signing Tuesday morning to voice their support for the new law and address its significance.

Maryland's General Assembly passed two versions of the bill to end 287(g) partnerships -- House Bill 444 and Senate Bill 245.

The bills were sent to the opposite chamber for another round of approvals before they were sent to the governor's desk.

Maryland currently allows two different types of 287(g) agreements. One allows correctional officers to flag noncitizens to ICE and detain them for 48 hours, and another allows officers to serve warrants on jailed noncitizens.

Gov. Moore previously showed support for the bill and said he would sign the bill into law if it reached his desk.

"We are going to do everything in our power to keep people safe, but that does not mean deputizing the people who are keeping people safe to go perform functions by a rogue ICE agency," the governor said in a statement. "And so we are eager. We are working with the members of the General Assembly. I'm looking forward to a bill that will make it to my desk, and I'm looking forward to signing the bill that makes it to my desk."

On Tuesday, the Maryland Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican state delegates, accused state Democrats of restricting "cooperation between local jails and federal immigration authorities" by signing the bills into law.

"Sheriffs across Maryland have warned that ending cooperation with ICE will not make communities safer, it will lock down law enforcement and shift encounters from controlled jail transfers to street-level confrontations," the group said in a statement.

Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler has had a 287(g) agreement with his agency since 2016. He argued Tuesday the ban will result in some violent offenders being let go unintentionally."

"There'll be those [criminals] who won't get a hit that would have allowed us to identify [them under this agreement], that will not be happening now," Gahler said. "Those individuals who pose a threat to public safety or national security will be walking out of our jails and back into your community."

Earlier this month, Gahler was joined by Patty Morin, the mother of a woman who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador in 2022, to urge state lawmakers to reject the 287(g) ban.

In 2023, Rachel Morin was found murdered along the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air. In August 2025, Victor Martinez Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder.

Patty Morin said 287(g) agreements have been "a safeguard for our community, for our citizens, for our families."

She then asked Marylanders to tell Gov. Moore "not to sign that order, to veto it, and to allow us to work in this program."

Sheriff Gahler has also said the agreements help to keep Marylanders safe and that getting rid of them would only increase ICE presence in the state.

"Doing away with 287(g) has been sold by some legislators as the solution to get ICE out of Maryland," Gahler said. "The opposite will happen. You will still see ICE, probably in greater numbers, doing the job they are lawfully required to do."

The Maryland Sheriffs' Association is meeting Wednesday to discuss next steps on the new law, according to Gahler, which includes exploring possible legal action.

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