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4 ICE-related bills signed into law

Four bills related to immigration enforcement in Montgomery County have been signed into law.

  • County Values Act (Led by Councilmember Kristin Mink): Prohibits immigration enforcement in county-owned or county-controlled parking lots and garages.
  • Unmask ICE Act (Led by Councilmember Will Jawando): Prohibits law enforcement agencies from wearing masks or facial coverings in Montgomery County while on duty, with narrow exceptions.
  • ICE Out Act (Led by Councilmember Evan Glass): Prohibits permits for any privately-owned detention facility in Montgomery County.
  • Vehicle Recovery Act (Led by Councilmember Kate Stewart): Requires towing companies to accept a broader range of documentation to release a towed car.

County Executive Marc Elrich signed the bills Monday afternoon with councilmembers and advocates in Rockville.

Leaders Want to Act Now

County leaders are not as concerned that the bills could potentially draw more attention from immigration enforcement — they want to act now.

“I think we all recognize that we’re going to be targeted anyway,” said Elrich.

“‘What if the federal government doesn’t like it,’ ‘What if this is too hard to implement’ Those questions are not coming from the communities that are impacted… those communities are telling us, ‘Do more, take action,'” said Mink, who led the County Values Act. “And so it is up to us to listen to that and make it work.”

“It’s already happening in Montgomery County,” said Alex Vazquez, Maryland Organizing Director for CASA. “And anything that we can do to prevent any future increase of immigration enforcement and slow them down — this is the reason why we’re working with legislators to pass these pieces of legislation.”

County Tries to Govern a Federal Agency

“We’re pushing the limits of federalism,” said Jawando, who led the Unmask ICE Act.

“It might be litigated. If there are challenges, great, we’d be happy to do that and go to court to fight for the rights and the safety of our residents,” Jawando said.

“The county can do a lot,” said County Council President Natali Fani-González.

“Every single bill that we have passed has been very intentionally craft in a way that we’re doing it to ensure that we’re using our local power to really make a difference instead of just headlines,” Fani-González said.

‘I Don’t Know if There is a Better Definition of Cruelty’

“When we saw what was happening up in Hagerstown… where they wanted to build a privately-owned detention center and round up their own neighbors, putting them in warehouses and cages, we proactively stood up and said we will not let that happen here,” said Glass, who led the ICE Out Act.

Stewart said the idea for her Vehicle Recovery Act came from residents who said ICE was taking their family members from their cars, leaving the cars in the road or “parking them intentionally in front of fire hydrants or fire stations so that there was no recourse except to have them towed, before someone else could recover the vehicle for the family members.” Only to have the family member find out that they cannot get the car back if their name is not on the title.

“I don’t know if there is a better definition of cruelty, but that to me is one of them,” Stewart said.

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