In the wake of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, many Maryland residents are trying to understand how federal programs intersect with local policing and what these practices mean for them.
To shed light on these questions, reporters Aline Behar Kado and Haley Parsley, who cover immigration for Capital News Service, joined a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Ghaiesha Legrand to walk the public through what they have uncovered in their investigation of the 287(g) program. This program allows local police to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
AMA Question: Thanks for the reporting. Is there any bar of evidence that local law enforcement needs to meet for “suspicion that detainees are in the country illegally?” Do detainees get a chance to counter this suspicion?
Sheriffs who run the jail enforcement model say their staff asks every newly arrested person about their immigration status when they are first booked. If the correctional officers believe someone was not born in the U.S., they search the person in an ICE database, which they’re granted access to as part of their participation in the 287(g) program.
The public, including journalists, does not have access to that database. We are told it contains records that help determine an individual’s immigration status.
After local law enforcement agencies tell ICE that they have an undocumented person in their custody, it’s up to ICE to decide if they want the agency to hold that person. If they do, ICE has 48 hours to take that person into custody. The person in custody is not able to counter or appeal any of these decisions.
AMA Question: Also, do you know what people who are transferred over to ICE are generally being held for initially?
The most serious conviction among people transferred to ICE under Maryland’s 287(g) program is driving under the influence (30%), according to our analysis of records from the Deportation Data Project. Traffic offenses, assault and larceny are the other top-most serious convictions for these arrests, accounting for 22%, 10%, and 7%, respectively.
AMA Question: Why is ICE permitted to anonymously seize people without warrants or respect for their person?
ICE does not need to present a warrant to arrest someone in a public space. However, they do need warrants to arrest anyone in their homes or other private spaces. Being a federal agency, ICE does not necessarily operate under the same rules as a local agency.
AMA Question: Can anyone they don’t like be “suspicious” and is there any oversight?
Some participating sheriffs in Maryland run the jail enforcement model. They tell us they ask all newly arrested individuals about their immigration status when they are first booked. If the correctional officers believe someone was not born in the U.S., they search the person in an ICE database, which they’re granted access to as part of their participation in the 287(g) program. If they find that a person is undocumented, they alert ICE, who may then issue a detainer for the sheriff to hold the individual for up to 48 hours.
Because every person who’s booked is also screened, participating sheriffs argue that the program is not discriminatory. Advocacy groups like the ACLU argue that the program does facilitate discrimination.
ICE provides training and conducts inspections to make sure each local office is compliant with the rules of the program.
AMA Question: Is it possible to provide stats of how many of the illegal immigrants arrested by ICE had detainers for violent crimes?
While it is hard to define what constitutes violent crimes, we can expand on what the most serious convictions many of the individuals arrested under this program were charged with.
- Driving under the influence of liquor (30%)
- Traffic offense (22%)
- Assault (10%)
- Larceny (7%)
- Domestic violence (3%)
- Burglary (2%)
- Cocaine – possession (2%)
- Illegal entry (2%)
- Resisting officer (2%)
- Simple assault (2%)
There are more charges that go below 1 percent of arrests under this program in Maryland.
AMA Question: Are total arrests much lower in places that don’t participate in the 287(g) program? How many counties or cities explicitly have laws that say they won’t participate in that, or that they won’t cooperate with ICE? I remember this being something people were trying to put in place in Anne Arundel County back in like 2018, but I’m not sure how successful it was across the state.
(1) The ICE data that the public and journalists have access to doesn’t provide county- or city-level data on the location of most street arrests. The 287(g) arrests are typically associated with a county’s specific program, and that’s why we know where those arrests took place.
(2) No counties in Maryland have banned the 287(g) program, but in 2018, Anne Arundel backtracked on a plan to participate.
(3) Last session, the Maryland House passed a bill to ban the program, but it didn’t get through the Senate. Del. Nicole Williams has said she will reintroduce the ban this coming session
AMA Question: Why do you think Frederick leads among counties? I would have assumed one of the DC-adjacent counties.
Only eight counties in Maryland have agreed to work with ICE, and Frederick leads among those counties. In part, that’s because Frederick’s program is well-established— it has existed since 2008.
There’s evidence that ICE is making street arrests across Maryland, but those arrests are not associated with the 287(g) program.
AMA Question: How many people has ICE disappeared?
The sheriffs have transferred 119 people to ICE under this program in Maryland from January 20, 2025, to the end of our data analysis (July 29, 2025). According to ICE, family members or others close to the individual arrested can use their A-number (or Alien Registration number) to track the person, even if they move between detention centers across the country.
AMA Question: How many stops are made without warrants? We’ve seen that they claim to use “reasonable suspicion,” but unfortunately that seems to be just based on skin color and racial stereotypes (food locations, work types, vehicle types). Thus making it hard to put a statistic to actually show how many people are legally/illegally being detained.
The 287(g) programs in which Maryland sheriffs participate are jail-based, so Maryland sheriffs are not deputized to make arrests based on immigration status.
Legally, ICE does not need to present a warrant for stops or arrests made in public spaces.
AMA Question: In addition to this, I’m curious about job statistics in each county in which arrests are being made.
ICE arrests are being made across the state. However, only eight sheriffs in Maryland participate in the 287(g) program. Arrests made through this program do not take an individual’s employment into account.
