Advocates To Legislators: ‘Pass The Community Trust Act Now'

By William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

April 9, 2026

There may be just five days left in the 2026 Maryland General Assembly session, but immigrant rights supporters aren’t giving up on a bill that would further limit the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to operate within the state.

The Community Trust Act is currently stalled in committee in both the House and Senate, but advocates at a State House relly Wednesday said now is the time for lawmakers to “step up.”

“We’re here at a time when national policies are driving harm and undermining fundamental rights. Maryland has a responsibility to lead,” said Dana Vickers Shelly, executive director with the ACLU of Maryland, to about 200 people gathered in Lawyers Mall. “The Senate has got to step up. Step up, people. The Senate must lead. The Senate must pass the Community Trust Act.”

Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), who did not attend the rally organized by We Are CASA, said he has spoken with advocates and remains “confident we will get something over the finish line” this year.

Legislators, advocates and others hoist signs at a rally Wednesday in support of the immigrant rights legislation called the Community Trust Act. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

“We have done our job in the Senate to protect immigrants and everyone in the state of Maryland, and I’m proud of the work that the Senate has done,” said Smith, who chairs the Judicial Proceedings Committee.

The Community Trust Act — Senate Bill 791 sponsored by Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard) and House Bill 1575 sponsored by Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County) — had hearings in February in Judicial Proceedings and the House Judiciary Committee, but have not moved since.

The bills seek to close a loophole that lets local law ,agencies and jails detain any individuals based on immigration status and requests from ICE. Current law allows local law enforcement agencies to assist ICE based on administrative warrants from the Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department. The bills would prohibit cooperation with federal immigration officials unless it was ordered by a court, in the form of a judicial warrant from a judge, not a bureaucrat.

Phillips and Lam were among several legislators at Wednesday’s rally who said they were still working to get the Community Trust Act passed before the session ends at midnight Monday.

“We have to close off these back-door loopholes to prevent ICE from coming through our prisons and through our communities to continue their deportation campaign,” Lam said. “That’s why bills like the Community Trust Act are so incredibly important, and we look forward to passing it this session through the help of all of you, don’t we?”

“Yeah!” the crowd replied.

‘Will not be silent’

The Senate was repeatedly cited at Wednesday’s rally by advocates who recall what happened last year, when a proposal to ban so-called 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement agencies and ICE failed in the Senate in the final minutes of the 2025 session.

Mohamed Alghali speaks in support of the Community Trust Act at a rally Wednesday. His mother, Rabbiatu Kuyateh, was detained last year during a routine check-in with ICE. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)

Many blamed Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) for its failure, but he supported the 287(g) legislation, which had been passed and signed into law as emergency legislation, less than five weeks into this year’s session.

Odette Ramos, the only Latina on the Baltimore City Council, said her city and several other jurisdictions in Maryland approved local trust acts that limit law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE. In Baltimore, ICE officials must have a court order or judicial warrant for the city’s police department or other agency to assist in an investigation.

“What we’re also seeing is that ICE doesn’t actually know boundaries. They’re just going to go after people. So, we have to do this on a statewide basis,” Ramos said.

Dozens of people held signs such as “Maryland is my home. ICE is not welcome here;” “Justice for immigrants,” and “Pass the freakin’ CTA.”

Another sign featured Rabbiatu Kuyateh, a nurse who was detained at an ICE checkpoint last year. Kuyateh came to the U.S. more than 30 years ago from Sierra Leone. She was flown in shackles to Ghana and then back Sierra Leone.

Kuyateh’s son, Mohamed Alghali, 34, said at Wednesday’s rally that his mother’s “unlawful” abduction by ICE is why he supports the Community Trust Act.

“We are not asking anymore. We’re demanding that they pass the Community Trust Act,” said Alghali, a CASA member and Prince George’s County resident who works in cybersecurity. “End all dangerous cooperation with immigration enforcement. And if you don’t act, understand this: Families like mine will not be silent. We will organize. We will mobilize and we’ll keep fighting until you do so.”

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: scrane@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and Twitter.