Article By Amy Furr
Some sheriffs in Maryland are vowing to continue working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in defiance of their Democrat governor.
Gov. Wes Moore (D) is expected to sign a bill banning official agreements between local police and the federal agency, but the move may get some pushback, the Baltimore Sun reported Sunday.
The bill may end 287(g) agreements, which eight Maryland counties currently have, according to CBS News.
“The state currently allows two different types of 287(g) agreements. One that allows correctional officers to flag noncitizens to ICE and detain them for 48 hours, and another that allows officers to serve warrants on jailed noncitizens,” the outlet said.
According to the Sun report, Carroll County Sheriff James T. “Jim” DeWees is taking a hard stance regarding how he protects community members.
He said, “No politician or legislative body is going to tell me that I can’t communicate with another law enforcement agency on matters of public safety in my community. I’m not going to stop.”
DeWees also noted, “The bill bans the agreements, and then in typical Annapolis fashion, they supply no alternative,” adding he will “create a policy within my office to continue working with ICE,” per WBFF.
Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. “Chuck” Jenkins said, “This is all political. You can put any lipstick you want on it; it’s all political. The Democrats don’t want any cooperation with ICE. They don’t want any enforcement whatsoever,” according to the Sun article.
Meanwhile, officials in Maryland’s Washington County recently approved a resolution giving their “full support” for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE, and other law enforcement agencies, Breitbart News reported Tuesday.
The text of the resolution reads in part:
The Board of County Commissioners of Washington County hereby declares its intent to support DHS and ICE in the enforcement of our nation’s borders, safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system, and ensuring that all persons are treated with dignity and compassion within our jurisdiction.
On Sunday, Moore claimed ICE was “using their budget to put untrained and unaccountable agents into our communities and detain five year olds [sic]. It is not making our communities – or our country – safer. We must demand accountability.”
ICE is the 13th largest military force in the world by funding. They’re using their budget to put untrained and unaccountable agents into our communities and detain five year olds. It is not making our communities – or our country – safer. We must demand accountability pic.twitter.com/NxRTQRVH40
— Wes Moore (@iamwesmoore) February 16, 2026
But the claim about ICE “detaining” a five-year-old in Minnesota was debunked as a media lie that Democrats circulated online, Breitbart News reported January 22:
The claim went viral after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) posted a local news article wherein Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik suggested ICE took custody of a five-year-old boy who was being driven to school by his illegal alien father.
“ICE just detained a 5-year-old child. Don’t tell us this is about ‘the worst of the worst.’ That’s a lie. Absolutely vile,” Omar wrote in the post.
In reality, ICE agents said they had no choice but to stay with the five-year-old boy, identified as Liam Ramos, after his illegal alien father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, took off without him when agents approached Arias’s vehicle.
ICE officers protected and sheltered the child, the outlet noted in another article.
“The media blowup comes as ICE officials are enforcing the nation’s migration laws by arresting many illegal migrants, including many who have been ordered home by a federal judge,” Breitbart News reported. “Some of the migrants have kids — partly because President Joe Biden’s deputies minimized arrests — ensuring that ICE officers must guard the children until they can be handed over to the other parent or a relative.”
Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced in January that Texas encourages its sheriffs to work with ICE. Breitbart News’s Bob Price reported, “The State of Texas is offering sheriffs as much as $140,000 to bolster cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), tying the new funding directly to participation in the federal 287(g) program.”
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