Overview
- On May 22, 2026 Gov. Wes Moore announced he will allow the Community Trust Act and the Data Privacy Act to become law without his signature.
- The Community Trust Act bars local jails and prisons from holding people for ICE without a judge-signed warrant and stops proactive inquiries to ICE except for convicted felons or certain sex-offender registry crimes.
- The Data Privacy Act prevents federal immigration authorities from accessing specified state databases such as motor vehicle, tax, health and unemployment records for immigration enforcement.
- Moore warned the Community Trust Act creates operational ambiguities for joint investigations and ordered his office and the attorney general to issue executive guidance and pursue fixes in the 2027 legislative session.
- The move deepens a split between sheriffs who say the laws will hinder public-safety coordination and immigrant-rights groups who pushed for stronger local limits on cooperation with ICE; the bills follow an earlier 287(g) ban signed by Moore this year.