Harford County prison officials are watching as a proposed state bill that would do away with the 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to partner with federal immigration officials inside correction centers makes its way through the General Assembly session.

Currently, Cecil, Frederick, and Harford counties participate in the 287(g) program, allowing detention center staff to run names of inmates through a database to check for immigration enforcement actions. If there is a detainer they will notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to ICE, Carroll and Washington counties’ participation in the program is pending.

Harford County entered into an agreement with ICE through the 287(g) program in 2016. The program gives specially trained correctional deputies the authority for immigration enforcement. Through the program, every person who enters the Harford County Detention Center is screened for their immigration status.

“There’s four of us that are designated immigration officers that are trained through Homeland Security,” Sgt. Christopher Crespo said. “We will ask them what country they are from. If they are a U.S. citizen we will not interview them, but if they tell us they’re from another country we will then interview them and then through our database program through 287(g) we can see what their immigration status is.”

Crespo, who was trained as a designated immigration officer in Harford County, said ICE would be notified only if a person is determined to be in the country illegally.

“Homeland Security does have access so they can see what we’re doing in real time. They can call us and tell us, ‘Hey we’re going to place a detainer’ or ‘We’re just going to monitor them to see what happens at the local jurisdiction,’” he said.

If ICE decides to place a federal detainer on an individual, once the person is released from Harford County detention, ICE has 48 hours to pick them up.

Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, a Republican, said it’s an additional step taken by trained corrections officers that makes a big difference.

“ICE makes the decision, not the sheriff’s office, not the sheriff, not our deputies,” he said. “ICE makes the decision whether they are going to proceed with removal proceedings based on what they know about the individual related to public safety and national security.”

In 2022 the 287(g) unit in Harford County screened 2,919 people who entered the detention center, and served 43 detainers for ICE.

“The majority of people, they take no action on,” Gahler said.

A bill known as the Maryland Values Act argues that the program leads to racial profiling and community distrust. It is being supported by CASA Maryland, a lobbying group that advocates for immigrant rights in Annapolis.

“287(g) feeds into this machinery of fear and Maryland must not be complicit in this,” CASA Legal Director Ama Frimpong said.

Del. Nicole Williams, a Democrat who represents Prince George’s County, has also backed the bill.

“The 287(g) program is a mechanism through which certain communities are terrorized and creates a fear of cooperation with law enforcement,” Williams said.

Gahler said there is a misconception about the program.

“These are people who have already broken our laws at a federal level and then violated some other law that got them arrested. If ICE tells me they pose a public safety threat or national security threat and I just put them out, I’m just going to have more crime. Our citizens are going to be more victimized. I don’t want to see that happen,” he said.

He said the program is especially important after the killings of Kayla Hamilton, of Aberdeen, and Rachel Morin, of Bel Air.

“We’ve lost two women in this county to the hands of illegal immigrants violently. They don’t want to take that into account, but they want to make excuses for the criminal. That is not public safety,” he said.

Crespo said he, too, wants people to understand the program is about accountability.

“We’re not profiling anyone. We’re not in the street looking for people,” he said. “We understand people want to come here to better their families, but you have to do it the right way. What we’re looking for is people doing it illegally and breaking the law because it’s not fair to other individuals that follow the rules.”

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