Maryland county sheriffs file lawsuit challenging Community Trust Act

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Go sheriffs!

The majority of Maryland’s 24 sheriffs filed a civil suit in federal court Tuesday to block the Community Trust Act, which the suit said would hamper sheriffs’ duties to work with federal authorities to combat illegal immigration.

The civil suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt by sheriffs from 17 counties, claims the law would “intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart Plaintiffs’ obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

“Maryland’s blatant defiance of federal immigration law is not merely a political disagreement or passive abstention; it is deliberate, disruptive action that jeopardizes the public safety of all Americans,” the suit says.

The suit was filed by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to restrict immigration, on behalf of sheriffs from Allegany, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Kent, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester counties.

It lists the state of Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) as defendants. Brown’s office said Wednesday morning that it would not comment on the court case.

The suit comes more than a month after the Community Trust Act was passed, on the last day of the legislative session, and just days after Moore said he would not sign the bill, but would let it become law without his signature.

Moore said in a statement Friday that he agrees with the bill’s goal of keeping local police focused on local crime, and that the state should “not let untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work.”

But he also said the bill “presents real implementation challenges that must be addressed through executive action and in next year’s legislative session.”

[i]Note that ranting Raskin's county, Montgomery, did not sign on to the suit, neither did majority-black Prince George's county. Moore is a coward who let the act become law without his signature.