Published July 10, 2026 at 10:27 AM EDT

This story has been updated with comments from the Maryland Speaker of the House and We Are CASA.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Maryland on Thursday over its new immigration enforcement policy.

The Community Trust Act – which Gov. Wes Moore let go into law without his signature in May – limits when local law enforcement can communicate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and how long local jails can hold undocumented detainees.

Under the law, local law enforcement is only able to contact ICE for removal proceedings — with the ultimate intent of deportation — if an individual in custody has been convicted of a felony, has previously been sentenced to at least 12 months of incarceration in a Maryland correctional facility, was required to register as a sex offender or completed at least five years of incarceration in another state

The DOJ alleges the new law curtails local jails and law enforcement from cooperating with ICE and supersedes executive authority.

“The Act’s purpose and effect is to obstruct federal law enforcement and thwart the constitutional obligation of the President of the United States to take care that the immigration laws enacted by Congress are enforced,” the lawsuit reads.

Rhyan Lake, a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore, said in a statement the administration “cannot comment on active litigation" but that the Community Trust Act does not wholesale prohibit law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration enforcement.

“Maryland will work with the federal government when that coordination makes our people safer – but we will not let Donald Trump’s untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work,” Lake said.

Republican lawmakers vehemently opposed the bill during this year’s legislative session, arguing it would likely be challenged by the federal government and would “weaken” public safety.

“As Republicans warned during the debate on this bill, Maryland Democrats’ obsession with becoming a sanctuary state has consequences,” said House Republican Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany County) in a statement. “These misguided policies jeopardize public safety and have invited this litigation by the federal government.”

The Moore administration denies the claim that Maryland is a sanctuary state and argues local law enforcement can still coordinate with federal agents when it comes to people convicted of serious crimes.

"The Trump-Vance Administration continues to use the Department of Justice as a political battering ram against states that refuse to participate in its mass deportation agenda," House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties) said in a statement. "Maryland will not be bullied into abandoning policies that strengthen public safety, respect constitutional federalism, and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect."

"This lawsuit is a weak political attempt at punishing Maryland for refusing to turn our schools, neighborhoods, and local police departments into extensions of President Trump’s mass deportation regime of terror," We Are CASA — an immigrant advocacy organization — Executive Director George Escobar said in a statement.

The office of Maryland’s Attorney General declined to comment.