The Community Trust Act addresses a pattern of abuse of power in this state through surveillance, intimidation, and the forced removal of immigrant communities. This harm falls disproportionately on Black and Brown people, who are more likely to be stopped, questioned, detained, and funneled into enforcement systems.

The bill makes clear that Maryland will no longer operate as an extension of federal immigration enforcement. It prohibits correctional personnel from questioning individuals about their immigration status, holding them to investigate that status, and transferring them to federal authorities without a valid judicial warrant.

This legislation interrupts a system of racialized control and racial profiling. It breaks the link between local institutions and federal enforcement pipelines that have targeted and criminalized Black and Brown communities, including Black immigrants and Afro-Latino communities.

The same systems that drive mass incarceration feed deportation systems. This bill limits the state’s role in that process by restricting surveillance, detention, and transfer without legal authority. It establishes a clear boundary, no collaboration, no complicity, no continuation of policies that disproportionately harm Black and Brown communities.