The Office of the Attorney General has published guidance for state and local government agencies on how to implement provisions of the General Assembly’s new immigration enforcement laws.
As previously covered on Conduit Street, the Maryland General Assembly passed HB 1222 – an immigrant protections bill establishing standards for how state and local governments operating at certain locations interact with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. A major component of the bill requires the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to issue guidance for local jurisdictions on how to implement the standards of the bill. Earlier this summer, this guidance was published and is to be used by state and local agencies in order to establish a policy consistent with the guidance by October 1, 2025.
The major components of the bill are that any local or state government agency operating at a sensitive location shall deny access to non-public areas of that location by an ICE agent if they do not present a judicial warrant for access to the requested area. To this end the guidance covers:
- policy requirements
- relevant legal principles to consider
- model policies as examples
- side-by-side comparisons of ICE detainers and judicial warrants
A secondary requirement of the bill covers the adoption of and adherence to another new policy but with a deadline of July 1, 2026 and does not require OAG guidance. Counties, rather, shall consult with the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), to develop and implement data handling policies that prevent the sale or resale of the personal records or geographic information of Maryland residents. This protected information includes physical addresses, physical descriptions, bio-metrics, phone numbers, and pictures.
