Bill seeks to limit ICE arrests in MD courthouses

Listen to this article

The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee discussed a bill Thursday to bar federal law enforcement from stopping, detaining or arresting people for certain offenses near or inside a courthouse.

Sponsored by Sen. Shelly Hettleman, D-Baltimore County, the bill is aimed toward preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from intimidating immigrants in ways that prevent them from seeking justice through the court systems.

“When courthouses and other spaces become sites of intimidation, civil immigration enforcement is fundamentally compromised,” Katie Curran O’Malley, the executive director of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland, said at the Annapolis bill hearing. “ICE agents have been present in and around courts and other administrative buildings where immigrants who entered the country legally are following all the required rules to get citizenship must report for check-ins related to their immigration cases — and then are getting locked up and detained.”

The legislation would prohibit law enforcement from making arrests for suspected offenses that are subject to a civil penalty when that person is inside or on the grounds of a courthouse or administrative hearing facility to attend a meeting or hearing.

An exception is if the officer provides prior notice to the judge or court administrator, or makes the stop or arrest in a manner that does not disrupt proceedings or interrupt that person’s access to justice.

Should the bill be enacted, any evidence obtained in its violation would be deemed inadmissible against the person stopped or detained.

If a person is stopped in violation of the bill, they would be eligible to pursue civil action against their arresting officer. The court would be able to award them damages, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees and court costs.

The legislation would not apply to arrests made for alleged criminal offenses, arrests made with valid judicial warrants, people in contempt of court, the issuance of child custody orders, arrests regarding an individual’s conduct before a proceeding, or if a person must adhere to a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.

“If we have rules that require immigrants to check in at courthouses and other administrative buildings, we must also ensure those spaces are secure and free from civil immigration enforcement,” said O’Malley.

Worrying that the bill is unconstitutional, Sen. Chris West, R-Baltimore County, asked which law enforcement agencies the bill would apply to.

“It seems to me … that the only organizations that this bill applies to are federal law enforcement agencies,” he said. “It appears that all state law enforcement agencies are permitted to go into courthouses and arrest people, but federal law enforcement agencies under this bill are not.”

O’Malley said that ICE could still enter a judiciary building and issue a valid judicial warrant.

Still, West pointed to the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which dictates that the federal government is “free from regulation by any state.”

“I find much of what ICE does to be reprehensible and appalling, frankly — and I’m no friend of ICE based on how they’re operating currently,” West responded. “But even though I would like to push back against ICE, I don’t think the way to push back is for us to engage in unconstitutional work or pass unconstitutional statutes.”

ICE activity in a Baltimore courthouse last year prompted an investigation and pushback from the city’s sheriff. A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge then ordered that all law enforcement officers, including ICE, entering certain Baltimore court facilities will have to identify themselves and state the purpose of their visits.

Reena Shah, the executive director of the Maryland Access to Justice Commission, said that her organization is hearing from advocates that ICE interactions at courthouses and administrative buildings are causing people to not file suit in landlord-tenant cases, fight wage theft cases and pursue action against domestic violence.

The bill must be voted out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee before it can be debated by the full chamber.