Dr. Anna Rubin
To be a Jew is to be a stranger. This was why Abraham was commanded to leave land, home and family; why he was told that his descendants would be strangers in a land not their own; why Moses had to suffer personal exile before assuming leadership of the people; why we taste of the bread of affliction and the bitter herbs of slavery at Passover; why the most repeated command in the entire Torah is the insistence that we behave with care, equity and love toward the stranger.
But today, President Donald Trump’s mass deportation dragnet is terrorizing our immigrant communities, indiscriminately catching any and all immigrants regardless of criminal history or even citizenship. Up 300% from last year, ICE arrested 4,000 Marylanders in 2025, leaving children without a parent and terrifying entire communities. Shockingly, 81% of all transfers from county detention centers and other lockups occur because of these informal agreements. And immigrants with no criminal record have been the largest group of ICE arrests in Maryland for months.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a statewide ban on 287(g) agreements, formal contracts that enable sheriffs and local police to enforce federal immigration policy.
This bill was signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore as emergency legislation, in large part due to unprecedented grassroots organizing and support, including from many Jews and Jewish groups across our state. Due to the emergency status of the legislation, sheriffs and counties with these contracts have had to either end the agreements immediately, or in some cases, will end these agreements by mid-May.
This legislation was a critical step forward, but significant loopholes that allow the transfer of detained people to ICE by local law enforcement remain. Since the passage of the 287(g) ban, numerous sheriffs across the state have declared their intentions of using these informal forms of collaboration to continue working with ICE. In addition to the violation of civil liberties and the devastation to families, collaboration with ICE drains precious state resources — ICE’s budget is larger than the budget of our entire state. This ongoing collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities is harming immigrant communities across our state and allowing our state resources to be used to support the cruel ICE deportation machine.
People may be misled by the myths being propagated by ICE about safety. The truth is that ICE activity has only increased fear, reduced public safety and reduced trust in law enforcement. People are afraid to shop, go to school, get medical care and report crime for fear of being caught up in ICE’s clutches. It is vital that our legislators pass the Community Trust Act (HB1575 / SB791) to close these loopholes and protect immigrant communities who are under attack by the federal government while rebuilding trust between law enforcement and the communities they are supposed to serve.
With communities preparing for pending ICE surges and mobilizing to block detention camps popping up from Hagerstown to Howard County, this moment calls for the Jewish community to make its values known to political leaders and to fight for an end to any unnecessary collusion with ICE. As we near Passover, this commandment from Leviticus 19:33–34 rings especially true: “When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. The sojourners who reside with you shall be to you as your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Alongside partners at We Are CASA, the ACLU of Maryland and numerous other organizations and faith communities, Jews United for Justice is calling on the Maryland General Assembly to pass the Community Trust Act (HB1575 / SB791) this legislative session to buttress the ban on 287(g) agreements and keep immigrant communities in Maryland safe. The Talmud teaches that to save one life is to save an entire universe. And if not now, when? The time to act is now.
Dr. Anna Rubin is the co-chair of the Jews United for Justice Statewide Immigrant Justice Working Group and chair of the Columbia Jewish Congregation Tikkun Olam Committee.
