After President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday pledging to freeze federal funding for any jurisdiction his administration deems a “sanctuary city,” some Montgomery County officials are concerned about what that order will mean locally.
“The executive orders and policies coming out of the White House right now are causing a great deal of damage and chaos,” County Council President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) told Bethesda Today in an interview Tuesday.
Trump ordered the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security to create and publish a list of jurisdictions that “limit cooperation with immigration officials, but do not stop immigration enforcement,” States Newsroom reported. These jurisdictions are at risk of having federal funding pulled.
Montgomery County has never declared itself a sanctuary county, a point that County Executive Marc Elrich (D) has frequently repeated. According to the website for the county’s public information office, county policy is to not inquire “about anyone’s immigration status, nor does the county conduct any immigration enforcement or investigations.”
Jason Cokinos, commander of the Montgomery County police department’s Third District, reiterated the policy during an April 7 virtual press briefing, noting the department would not participate in immigration enforcement efforts in the county.
“Montgomery County police [are] not going to a scene demanding immigration status paperwork, or asking people what their status is,” Cokinos said.
However, county policy requires the police department and the county’s Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in their work on immigration and customs violations and drug and human trafficking. The county’s arrest and detention information is sent to the state and can be accessed by ICE.
“We don’t interfere with ICE activities. We never have interfered with ICE activities. We have a, I would say, positive relationship with ICE,” Elrich said during a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
Elrich noted the county has cooperated with ICE in detaining “people who committed serious crimes.”
However, it’s unclear how Trump will define “sanctuary city.” Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer, said during Elrich’s Wednesday briefing that he has been working closely to understand how Trump’s executive order could impact the county.
“Without knowing whether Montgomery County is going to be on the list, I will simply predict that there will be lawyers,” Stoddard said. “There will be substantial pushback in the court system.”
Elrich said he is concerned the new order could impact county programs serving unhoused residents and other marginalized communities.
“This [order] is a little hard to understand. It appears if … you take a person who’s homeless and they happen to be an immigrant who’s not here legally, you could be charged with harboring an illegal immigrant,” Elrich said. “It is hard to believe in what world you would exist … and not harbor, harbor the homeless and feed the hungry. I mean, if you had any ethics or morals, that would be considered normal things that you do.”
Stewart noted the term “sanctuary city” is subjective and doesn’t have a legal definition.
“There’s a lot of unknowns about this executive order,” Stewart told Bethesda Today. “Different jurisdictions define ‘sanctuary city’ in different ways, so there is not one definition, and I think that is one of the things that we’re looking closely at.”
Stewart served as mayor of Takoma Park until she was elected to the County Council in 2022. Takoma Park’s City Council voted to become a sanctuary city in 1985. Under city law, police and other city employees are prohibited from asking Takoma Park residents about their citizenship or immigration status. They are also prohibited from cooperating in the enforcement of federal immigration laws that could lead to the deportation of residents. Takoma Park, while part of Montgomery County, operates its own police force.
“If you’re pulled over by police in Takoma Park, we do not ask for or request documentation regarding citizenship,” Takoma Park Mayor Talisha Searcy said in an interview in a November 2024 newsletter published by the city. “I think that it’s really important to make sure that people in our community feel welcomed and that they have some assurances of safety.”
During Wednesday’s briefing, officials said the county was among several jurisdictions that received a letter from America First Legal, a law firm run by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, prior to the inauguration in January. The letter warned that local officials could face legal consequences for interfering with immigration enforcement.
However, Elrich said he has not received any additional correspondence from the federal government regarding the issue.
“Unlike places like Nazi Germany and Russia, we don’t ask for anybody’s papers [to receive county services],” Elrich said. “We don’t ask somebody to prove they’re an American.”
Stewart told Bethesda Today that she is grateful for the support of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D), who has joined attorneys general in other states in filing suits against the Trump administration.
“We are incredibly fortunate here in the state of Maryland that we have an attorney general who has been very proactive, has provided us here in the county with advice on how to proceed, and we will be working closely with him,” Stewart said.
For now, nothing is changing in Montgomery County, she said.
“The fact that we have taken a very strong stance that our police officers do not enforce federal immigration law is very important to us in building trust in our communities,” Stewart said. “We have not backed away from that.”
