Attorney General Anthony Brown said Monday a Maryland immigration law is constitutional and promised to defend it after its come under fire from the Trump administration.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Community Trust Act last week, arguing that Maryland and the attorney general are in violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and asking courts to overturn the law.
Currently, Maryland law limits how much local authorities can communicate with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement. It also prohibits state law enforcement from holding individuals for ICE without a judicial warrant.
Brown said the law neither prevents Maryland law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal authorities on criminal investigation nor stops federal immigration officers from operating in the state. Instead, he said the law limits how state and local law enforcement resources can be used to assist with federal immigration enforcement.
“The Constitution does not let the federal government compel states to carry out federal immigration enforcement,” Brown said in a statement. “When Maryland chooses not to spend its resources on that federal work, it is not defying the law, it is exercising a right the Supreme Court has recognized.”
Brown said his office is “committed to upholding the rule of law, and we will defend Maryland’s policies because they do exactly that.”
The Office of the Attorney General updated it’s guidance on local enforcement of federal immigration law in June after the Community Trust Act took effect.
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