In the heart of Towson, immigrant rights advocates and supporters converged outside the Baltimore County Historic Courthouse, urging the adoption of two crucial bills aimed at safeguarding immigrant communities. According to CBS News Baltimore, the proposed Trust Act, introduced by Councilman Izzy Patoka, seeks to limit the engagement of county agencies with federal immigration enforcement and establish a Baltimore County Office of Immigrant Affairs.
As WBAL-TV reported, activists, including CASA representative Jossie Flor Sapunar, rallied in support of the bills, officially labeled anti-ICE legislation by one sponsor, emphasizing the need for immigrant-friendly policies and restrictions on ICE's local operations. "The federal government has chosen violence. The federal government has chosen to disappear, to abduct, to kill people right off of our streets," Sapunar stated, highlighting the urgency behind the legislative push.
The Trust Act, fueled by the response to Baltimore County's reaffirmation of its ICE agreement and a recent deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis, now faces final deliberation at the upcoming Baltimore County Council session scheduled for January 20. Despite the absence of a consensual presence at a previous council meeting, with only three of seven members in the room and two appearing virtually, Councilman Julian Jones, co-sponsor and county executive candidate, threw support to the proposed legislation. "We live in a time when there has been an enormous increase in fear, and at the same time there's been this increase in fear in our communities, there's been a decrease in due process," Patoka stated during the meeting, as reported by CBS News Baltimore.
On the flip side, Republican candidate Tim Fazenbaker and others opposing the Trust Act voiced concerns over potential chaos arising from sanctuary status and defiance of federal immigration laws. "Hundreds of thousands of us demand our laws be enforced and illegal aliens be removed," Fazenbaker said, according to CBS News Baltimore. Another detractor, Glen Geelhaar, running for State Delegate in District 8, deemed the measures misguided, adding, "I'm a taxpayer in this county, too, and I think we need to find a balance," as he spoke out at the council session.
Yet the public response tipped sharply in favor of the bills, reflecting the community's longing for a sense of protection amidst immigration policy tensions. More than 50 citizens, with experiences spanning from a Honduran teacher to a long-time Afghan immigrant resident, registered to voice their support at the council session. "I'm here because I'm tired of carrying a copy of my passport on me when I go on a walk or drive across the state to visit my nieces," Bilal Askaryar poignantly shared in his public testimony, echoed by CBS News Baltimore. A decisive vote on the Trust Act looms, underlining the notion that the soul of Baltimore County's immigrant community hangs in the balance.
