ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Back in January we reported on a proposed bill, that if passed, would prohibit any ICE agents hired during the Trump Administration from applying to become a State law enforcement officer in the future.
Delegate Adrian Boafo, the bill's main sponsor, a Democrat who represents District 23 in Prince George’s County, has called ICE a “lawless paramilitary front [whose] officers have disgraced our nation with their gratuitous brutality against innocent people."
His sponsored bill called the 'ICE Breaker Act of 2026' now appears to have the legal backing of the Maryland Attorney General's Office.
On Thursday Boafo's office publicly released a letter from the Attorney General's Office validating the bill's legality.
In the Attorney General's Office written opinion, Boafo's bill is likely to be challenged under three constitutional provisions: (1) The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and similar protections under Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights; (2) the Supremacy Clause; and/or (3) the First Amendment implicit right to associate.
Despite those potential concerns, the Attorney General's Office concluded the 'ICE Breaker Act' "does not clearly violate any of these constitutional limitations."
Attorney General Anthony Brown has long been a critic of ICE, going as far to discourage local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents, even raising potential civil liability for those who do.
In reaction to this latest opinion Boafo said "We must never allow them to collect salaries and benefits from the taxpayers of Maryland.”
For their part, ICE maintains they are primarily targeting undocumented migrants in the country with criminal histories.
A House Committee Hearing for the 'ICE Breaker Act' is scheduled for March 11 at 1pm.
Boafo is also currently among approximately two-dozen candidates running to replace retiring Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer's Fifth Congressional District seat.
