ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland lawmakers are advancing legislation to limit the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to wear face masks.
Senate Bill 1 is now sitting in the House of Delegates. Maryland Democrats want ICE agents to show their faces when operating in the state.
The legislation requires the state's Police Training and Standards Commission to come up with a uniform policy for any officer operating in the state. Any officer who does not follow the policy could get a citation.
Maryland Dems want ICE to uncover their face when operating in Maryland
"There were a couple of amendments that make it a different posture than introduced here. The first was to require an adoption of a uniform policy," Sen. Malcolm Augustine said.
The changes come after a California ruling called a similar ban unconstitutional because it did not apply to every officer in the state. Republicans have argued the Maryland legislation might be unconstitutional and will frustrate federal partners.
"It's one thing to exercise good faith in doing things but when you lack good faith with your federal partners to find a solution and you try to ram and force a civil violation on law enforcement officers at the federal level who have taken a sworn oath and legal responsibility. I would say that this body is no longer acting in good faith," Sen. William Folden said during debate on the Senate floor.
With just 12 floor days left until Sine Die, we asked Senate President Bill Ferguson about the bill's chance of getting done in time.
"I feel relatively confident, I believe in the last conversations we've had with our House counterparts they expressed this as a priority as well. There have been a number of bills dealing with enforcement, immigration enforcement that we jointly agreed are important and this was one of them. So I suspect that it will move forward," Ferguson said.
The House Judiciary Committee only asked one question during Tuesday's hearing, which was about whether COVID-19 masks could be worn under this legislation. Lawmakers confirmed they can.
Next, the committee needs to vote the bill to the House floor for the entire group to debate.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
