Maryland Just Cut the Wire on ICE Deputizing Deals
United States – February 18, 2026 – Maryland moved to end local 287(g)-style arrangements with ICE, arguing the program blurs accountability and turns civil immigration enforcem…
The coffee tastes like burnt pennies, the kind you drink under fluorescent lights while government systems hum like a beehive. That is where you learn the oldest trick in modern power: outsource the hard stuff, then act confused when nobody can tell whose badge did what.
Maryland just threw a wrench into that machine.
Emergency law blocks Maryland agencies from signing 287(g)-style ICE deals
On February 17, 2026, Gov. Wes Moore signed emergency legislation that bars the state, local governments, and county sheriffs from entering immigration enforcement agreements that authorize civil immigration enforcement. The bills are Senate Bill 245 and House Bill 444, and they took effect as an emergency measure.
The Washington Post framed the move as Maryland banning partnerships with ICE, with the governor pointing to “unaccountable” power. Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services also described the law as stopping jurisdictions from deputizing officers for federal civil immigration enforcement.
It targets existing agreements too, with a hard deadline
This is not just a “no new contracts” warning label. The law defines an “immigration enforcement agreement” broadly as contracts or memoranda with the federal government that authorize civil immigration enforcement. It explicitly includes agreements under federal authorities including 8 U.S.C. § 1103 and 8 U.S.C. § 1357.
Jurisdictions with an existing agreement are directed to use the termination provision immediately once the law takes effect, and that termination provision must be exercised no later than July 1, 2026.
There is still some fog around the precise count of Maryland jurisdictions that had these agreements at signing. Some reporting has described eight counties participating, while other reporting has described nine sheriff offices or nine counties. The bill sets rules rather than listing participants, but the overall picture is clear: multiple agreements existed, and the law is built to end them fast.
What 287(g) does, and why accountability becomes a mess
The basic model is simple: the federal government signs an agreement with a local agency, trains local officers, and authorizes them to perform certain immigration officer functions under ICE supervision. On paper, it looks tidy. In practice, it becomes a jurisdictional blender.
The program is pitched as a public safety partnership, but civil immigration enforcement is civil, not criminal. When that civil system fuses into local policing and jail operations, it becomes harder for the public, and for people caught in the middle, to tell which rules apply and who answers when something goes wrong.
Money and incentives, plus the next legal fight
Part of the growth story is budgets. DHS has promoted reimbursement and financial incentives for participating agencies. A September 2025 DHS release described more than 1,000 partnerships nationally and reimbursement opportunities starting October 1, 2025, including paying for salaries and benefits of trained 287(g) officers and offering performance awards tied to assistance to ICE’s mission.
Maryland’s own messaging stresses this is about civil immigration enforcement agreements, not a ban on all coordination on public safety matters. Still, the next fight is predictable: what counts as an “immigration enforcement agreement” versus “communication,” and whether sheriffs will sue to overturn the law, as Maryland Matters reported some have discussed.
At bottom, Maryland is trying to force a cleaner chain of command: real oversight, real accountability, and fewer blurred lines.
Keep Me Marginally Informed