Maryland advocates are urging state lawmakers to pass a bill that would restrict the reach of immigration raids authorized by the Trump administration in places such as schools and hospitals.
The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act would order the state attorney general to create guidelines for institutions that were guarded from ICE operations for over a decade. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order revoking those safety measures.
“ICE enforcement is at the discretion of the federal government,” Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins, one of the bill’s sponsors, told WYPR. “But state agencies and communities on-the-ground who work with our immigrant populations understanding what our rights are and what we should and should not do in order to not fuel these sorts of raids is really essential.”
At a press conference Thursday in Annapolis, educators and nonprofit leaders emphasized the traumatic impact of immigration raids — especially for children.
“Our hospitals and medical facilities are for healing, not for terror,” said Crisaly De Los Santos, director of Central Maryland’s CASA chapter. “Our courthouses are for justice not for fear, and our schools are for education, not deportation.”
A 13-year-old Baltimore County student named Maddie said that she and her friends have spent class time the past week worrying their family members will be deported.
“Instead of feeling safe and excited to learn, we feel like we're constantly wondering if today will be the day something bad happens,” she said.
De Los Santos said she’s received multiple reports of immigration agents driving near schools and stopping in parking lots since Trump’s inauguration.
Ana, a parent of four Baltimore County public school students, spoke at the press conference using only her first name for safety. She said ICE vehicles circled her school for two days in a row last week around pick-up time.
The first day, she said, Ana tried to hide her friend from the officers while they waited for their children.
“It was heartbreaking to see the fear in people's eyes, especially when all they're trying to do is to pick up their children from school,” Ana said in Spanish, with De Los Santos translating.
State and local education leaders are taking steps to prepare families for the worst-case scenario, like recommending that parents update their emergency contacts and hosting “know your rights” events.
But Matt Hornbeck, principal of Hampstead Hill Academy in Baltimore City, said the proposed bill is “critical” to taking that protection even further.
“We're beginning to see families afraid that sending their child to school may result in a long term or permanent separation of the child from the parents,” he said, “which means parents will have to choose the safety of the family unit over their child's education.”
Hornbeck said the parents of one first grader sent every teacher a colored copy of his passport and visa.
“These parents explained that if ICE were to come to school, and, God forbid, to the classroom, the teacher could show ICE the papers and say, ‘Please don't take this child,’” Hornbeck said. “This fear is not abstract; it's real, and it's affecting our students and their families every single day.”
Rosalia Castelan, Hampstead Hill’s community school coordinator, said 40% of the student body is Latino. She said she’s planning workshops to help parents create emergency plans and collect documents.
“We’re also working on trying to create a space for students to share their concerns,” Castelan said. “And we’re also trying to educate them, because not everything that is on social media is true, and sometimes the things that they hear can bring confusion and fear.”
Delegate Jared Solomon, co-sponsor of the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, said Thursday that the team is preparing to formally introduce their bill in the next few days.
“It is not our fault here in the state of Maryland that the federal immigration system is broken,” he said. “We're going to fight like hell to make sure that our immigrant brothers and sisters and the fabric of our community are safe and protected.”
