New Maryland Bill Means ‘More Victims’ Of Migrant Criminals, DHS Warns
Maryland legislation cracking down on police cooperation with immigration officials will put violent aliens back on the streets, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) captured sex offenders, a murderer and an MS-13 gang member in Maryland while ICE partnerships were active, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement Monday. Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday signed his party’s bill banning contracts known as 287(g) agreements, a once-obscure tool the Trump administration used to build alliances with law enforcement across the country. The change could make future arrests of dangerous people by ICE more difficult, the department said. (RELATED: How Trump’s ICE Built a National Police Alliance Right Under Democrats’ Noses)
ATTEMPTED MURDER and Prince George’s County, Maryland LET HIM OUT.
Honduran criminal alien Rafael Aguilar was charged with attempted murder and convicted of assault after stabbing his victim in the back.
Despite an immigration detainer in August 2025, the county reduced his sentence by 10 YEARS… pic.twitter.com/LsdAfb5wNv
– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) February 12, 2026
“This legislation will make Maryland less safe,” the spokesperson said. “When politicians prevent local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers must have a more visible presence so we can find and apprehend criminals released from prisons and reintegrated into communities.”
Illegal immigrants arrested in Maryland include a Salvadoran convicted of homicide and robbery, another Salvadoran convicted of assault and lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, a third convicted of incest with a minor and other sex offenses and a fourth linked to MS-13 and convicted of weapons possession, DHS said. A fifth person arrested was a Peruvian illegal immigrant convicted of armed rape, rape with a weapon, sexual assault and sex offense, according to the department.
In January, Prince George’s County also released a migrant convicted of stabbing someone in the back with a suspended sentence after ICE asked to have him back, DCNF previously reported.
Nine Maryland law enforcement agencies signed 287(g) agreements with the first and second Trump administrations, authorizing prisons and other agencies to arrest, question or transfer migrants to ICE custody based on the specific contract, federal records show. Democratic activists and politicians are waking up to ICE’s strategy, filing lawsuits or enacting policies against contracts despite some local support, even in liberal states, DCNF previously reported. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Why This Minnesota Sheriff Won’t Give Up ICE Partnership)
Signing the first bill of this session sends a clear message about who we are as a state.
Maryland will not allow state or local law enforcement to be used to carry out federal immigration actions that sow fear and tear families apart.
As an immigrant, this moment is… pic.twitter.com/jeDTuZJgPc
– Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller (@LtGovMiller) February 17, 2026
“In Maryland, we stand for constitutional rights and constitutional policing – and we will not allow untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents to replace our law enforcement officers,” Governor Moore said in a statement about his ban. “This bill draws a clear line: We will continue to work with our federal partners to hold violent offenders accountable, but we refuse to blur the lines between state and federal authority in a way that undermines trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
“Maryland is an immigrant community, and that is one of our greatest strengths, because this country is incomplete without each of us,” Moore said.
Moore’s office said the law does not require “the release of criminals” and does not undermine federal partnerships focused on “removing violent criminals who pose a risk to public safety.” DHS disagrees.
“Instead of working with us, the Maryland Legislature is choosing to RELEASE violent criminals from prisons directly into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims,” the DHS spokesperson told DCNF.
“The Maryland legislature unfortunately follows [a] dangerous path – already started by the governor [Kathy] Hochul in New York and governor [Abigail] Spanberger in Virginia – to put criminal illegal aliens above American citizens,” the spokesperson said.
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