(WBFF) — Maryland sheriffs are taking their fight over immigration enforcement to Washington, D.C. as a dispute with state lawmakers continues over how much local law enforcement should cooperate with federal authorities.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler is among the sheriffs expected to travel to the nation’s capital Thursday to support a federal bill, H.R. 7640, sponsored by California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock. The measure aims to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act “to improve public safety, through the enforcement of federal immigration law,” and would require sanctuary jurisdictions to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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“Any piece of legislation that says local law enforcement should cooperate with state and federal law enforcement is good public safety,” Gahler said.
The sheriffs’ push comes after the 287(g) program was done away with in Maryland. Gahler criticized the state legislature’s approach to local decision-making on immigration enforcement.
“Maryland’s legislature has turned their back. They don’t want to let local jurisdictions decide. They want to be big brother and they want to tell the local jurisdictions what to do,” Gahler said. “Well, I’m going to go down and ask a bigger brother to support the citizens of this county and the safety of the citizens that I serve.”
Asked why it is important for jurisdictions not to be considered sanctuary cities or sanctuary states, Gahler pointed to high-profile killings in the region.
“Well, the danger is to our public,” he said. “I mean, we sit here in Harford County, we sit less than a mile away from where Rachel Morin lost her life because her murderer was allowed to walk across an open southern border opened up by the last presidential administration. We were a few miles from the town of Aberdeen, where Kayla Hamilton lost her life at the hands of an illegal immigrant allowed into this country. Known gang affiliations who took her life.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is expected to join the sheriffs and show support for the resolution, despite being grilled this week by members of Congress regarding current immigration policies.
Gahler also pushed back on criticism of immigration enforcement efforts, calling it “a lot of scare tactics.”
“We arrest people every single day who are American citizens who commit crimes, who are separated from their families because they commit crimes,” he said. “And again, that’s the same mentality. These are crimes at the federal level, and we should hold people accountable.”
As the Maryland sheriffs take their concerns to the national stage, Gahler said they plan to present a united front.
“Again this is public safety something that I’ve stood for and many of our fellow sheriffs around the state also stand unified on,” he said.
The sheriffs are expected in D.C. tomorrow starting at 9 a.m., when the resolution is expected to be read. Gahler said he is hopeful it passes so “dangerous criminals don’t end up on Maryland streets.”
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