HARFORD COUNTY, MD - Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler has a warning for Maryland politicians who continue to place politics ahead of cooperation between law enforcement agencies: Eventually, innocent people are going to pay the price.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Gahler told Fox News Digital while discussing Maryland’s recently enacted Community Trust Act and restrictions on cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
Unfortunately, Gahler knows exactly what that price looks like.
His county was home to Rachel Morin, the 37-year-old mother of five who was raped and murdered on a hiking trail in 2023. Her killer was an illegal immigrant.
A year earlier, 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton was raped and strangled inside her home. Her killer was also an illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 member.
Yet Maryland lawmakers have now enacted legislation restricting how local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
For Sheriff Gahler, the problem isn't theoretical. It's about what happens when someone already in custody is identified by ICE as a public safety or national security threat and officers are still required to put that individual back on the street rather than safely transfer custody to federal authorities.
“I don’t want to have to open the jail door and say, ‘Welcome back to Harford County. Go victimize. Let’s create some more victims,’” Gahler said. “That is insane.”
And he's right.
This isn't about deputies roaming neighborhoods conducting immigration sweeps. It is about law enforcement agencies communicating with each other about people who have already been arrested and placed in custody.
“We do not do ICE’s job for them,” Gahler explained. “We work with our federal partners. We don’t replace our federal partners.”
Gahler and sheriffs from 16 other Maryland counties have gone to federal court challenging the Community Trust Act. Their lawsuit argues the legislation obstructs cooperation with federal immigration authorities and jeopardizes public safety.
Gahler says Maryland's previous partnership provided a much safer alternative.
“Our 287(g) program identified those people who were here committing criminal offenses against our citizens and are in the country illegally,” he said. “Then we turned them over safely in the security and safety of our jail after they were already in custody.”
That should be common sense.
Instead of ICE attempting to locate and arrest someone after that person has been released into a neighborhood, officers can conduct a controlled transfer inside a secure correctional facility.
“Anytime we don’t have to do a raid in law enforcement, it’s safer,” Gahler said.
Perhaps most troubling is that Maryland is approaching the 25th anniversary of September 11 while deliberately restricting communication between law enforcement agencies.
“The complete takeaway from 9/11 was that we didn’t communicate effectively across local, state and federal agencies,” Gahler said.
Yet Maryland's Community Trust Act now restricts that type of cooperation.
“It doesn’t get any more stupid than that. When you see terrible legislation, that’s as bad as it gets,” Sheriff Gahler said. “They’re doing it for purely political reasons and not public safety. That’s complete nonsense.”
When politicians create barriers between law enforcement agencies that are trying to remove potential threats from the streets, they should also accept responsibility for what happens when those barriers fail.
As Gahler put it, “So whose hands is it on? The politicians.”
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