DOJ sues Maryland over sanctuary policies obstructing ICE arrests
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The Justice Department has sued Maryland over its asylum policies, accusing the state of an “active and deliberate effort” to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maryland federal court, comes after the U.S. attorney general in February 2025 ordered the Justice Department’s civil division to determine state and local policies that provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Since then, 20 more lawsuits have been filed, including against Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois and New York.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Maryland argues that the Community Trust Act the state passed this year “endangers the public safety of all Americans” by deliberately impeding immigration arrests and deportations.
“Federal immigration officers are solely enforcing the laws passed by our Nation’s elected representatives in Congress and reflecting the will of We the People,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley Woodward said in a statement. he said. “Today’s case proves that this Department will never tolerate such lawless actions by blue state leaders.”
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ICE agents walk down the street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation on January 26, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The lawsuit also said Maryland’s law violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says state laws must comply with federal laws.
Justice Department attorneys argued that the Community Trust Act resulted in local officials failing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration officials.
They noted an incident on May 29, 2026, in which a Worcester County Jail warden told a detention and deportation officer that, as a result of the Community Trust Act, the facility “will not honor ICE detainees, release individuals into ICE custody, or notify ICE when individuals are in custody and ready for release.”
“The facility refused a scheduled ICE pickup that morning and did not release the individual into ICE custody,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
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The text of the law states that prisons in Maryland cannot transfer individuals to federal custody without “valid judicial authorization.”
The Justice Department argued that immigration law allows arrests not only through warrants signed by a judge, but also through administrative arrest warrants.
Most local law enforcement agencies in Maryland agree with the federal government’s assessment of the Community Trust Act.
Wes Moore joins a conversation about his new book “Courage Will Save Us” on 92NY on June 9, 2026 in New York City. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
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In late May, 17 of Maryland’s 24 sheriffs sued the state, saying the law “interferes with the ability of sheriffs and local detention centers to coordinate with police.” [ICE] “It concerns people who are in custody and may pose a threat to public security.”
In their statement, the sheriffs claimed that Gov. Wes Moore, who is named in the lawsuit, told them during a phone call that he was “aware of the unintended public safety consequences this law could have on our communities.”
Moore did not sign the Community Trust Act, but under Maryland law, a bill approved by both chambers becomes law if the governor does not sign or veto the bill within 10 days.
Moore’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital that the phone call took place and that Moore “explained his rationale for signing the bill into law without his signature.”
Maryland attorney general Anthony Brown speaks at a press conference in Digital Harbor on October 20, 2025. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Moore has previously said that despite implementation challenges, the Community Trust Act allows “local law enforcement to focus on work that has helped Maryland achieve historic reductions in violent crime.”
A representative from Moore’s office also told Fox News Digital that the Community Trust Act allows local authorities to coordinate with federal immigration officials “in the case of individuals convicted of serious crimes.”
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Moore’s office declined to comment on the Justice Department lawsuit but filed a statement attacking President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement.
“Maryland will work with the federal government when this coordination makes our people safer – but we will not allow Donald Trump to deputize our law enforcement officers to conduct immigration enforcement with untrained, unqualified and unaccountable ICE agents,” the statement said.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, who is named in both the federal lawsuit and the complaint filed by the sheriffs’ association, declined to comment.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
