BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Maryland’s immigration policies took center stage Tuesday on Capitol Hill during an emotionally charged House Judiciary Committee hearing on sanctuary policies in several states.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler was on a panel during the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing. Gahler is also one of 17 sheriffs in Maryland suing the state over the Community Trust Act, which limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
During the hearing, Gahler invoked the deaths of two Maryland women – Kayla Hamilton and Rachel Morin.
“Kayla Hamilton [was] brutally raped and strangled to death,” Gahler told the committee. “Rachel Morin, a mother of five, went for a jog. She never came home.”
Gahler argued that Maryland’s law makes it harder for local agencies to communicate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after someone has been arrested.
When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked why Gahler was suing his own state and wanted to work with federal authorities, the sheriff’s answer was brief.
“Simple public safety,” Gahler said.
Gahler later told lawmakers, “Our citizens deserve to be protected from crime.”
He also rejected the idea that Maryland deputies would be stopping people solely to question their immigration status. When asked by Rep. Russell Fry, R-South Carolina, whether his deputies were “driving around asking people for their papers,” Gahler responded: “Not at all. This all took place after an arrest.”
Fry argued that, under Maryland’s restrictions, a sheriff could have a defendant in custody, ICE could know the person is removable, and “the missing ingredient is apparently a permission slip from the state capitol in Annapolis.”
In a statement to FOX45 News, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore pushed back on claims that the Community Trust Act negatively impacts public safety.
“Maryland will never be a sanctuary for criminals under Governor Moore,” Rhyan Lake said in a statement to FOX45 News. “In fact, since Governor Moore took office, Maryland is seeing some of the largest drops in violent crime in the country.”
Lake said the state will work with the federal government to improve public safety, but criticized “untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents arresting five-year-olds and ripping mothers from their families.”
“In Maryland, we’ll continue holding violent offenders accountable and protecting Marylanders’ constitutional rights and basic dignity,” Lake said.
The hearing featured testimony from parents who said immigration-enforcement failures have permanently changed their families’ lives.
Marcus Coleman of California, whose daughter was injured in a crash involving a driver he said was in the country illegally, told lawmakers, “My daughter didn’t ask for this.
Patricia Fox, of Colorado, described the severe, lasting disabilities her daughter suffered after a crash involving a driver Fox said was in the country illegally.
“One collision created an entire family of victims,” Fox said.
But Democrats and immigration reform advocates challenged the premise that broader immigration enforcement would make communities safer.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, asked David Bier, the Cato Institute’s director of immigration studies, whether harsher immigration enforcement improves public safety.
“No, it doesn’t,” Bier said, arguing enforcement should focus on people with criminal charges or convictions and that Congress should instead repair the legal immigration system.
Fox, however, used her testimony to directly challenge Democrats who have criticized the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.
“Our story shouldn’t be partisan,” Fox said.
“You need to love Americans more than you hate Trump. That’s not partisan politics. It’s literally your job.”
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