Even in deep blue Maryland, the five county sheriffs who backed ICE, then sued the state to allow them to cooperate with federal officials, and ultimately ran for reelection on strict enforcement of immigration won their GOP primaries this week, according to poll results.
Each of these sheriffs faced challengers who ran as soft on crime and immigration but won despite political opposition to their immigration policy stances, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The Sheriffs who won their primaries include Harford County’s Jeff Gahler, Carroll County’s James T. “Jim” DeWees, Worcester County’s Matthew Crisafulli, Wicomico County’s Mike Lewis and Frederick County’s Chuck Jenkins. In addition, Worcester’s Sheriff Crisafulli is now the de facto general election winner because he faces no Democrat opponent in November.
After winning his primary, Frederick County Sheriff Jenkins doubled down on his stance, saying, “[Immigration] always been the big issue, every four years. … I will stand by the fact that Frederick County is a safer place because of that program [working with ICE].” Jenkins added that he thinks his primary win shows that his constituents are on the side of law and order.
In May, seventeen Maryland county sheriffs gathered in a lawsuit to sue the state over a new law that gives sanctuary to illegals that the law officers say will make Maryland a more dangerous place to live.
Led by Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler of Harford County, the group of Maryland sheriffs joined in a lawsuit filed in a federal court to block the state’s newly passed “Community Trust Act” (SB0791).
“It is an intentional state-mandated obstruction of public safety,” Sheriff Gahler said about the new law. “This law deliberately ties the hands of our dedicated local deputies, police officers and correctional officers. It forbids us from sharing information with federal authorities.”
“This issue, ladies and gentlemen, is not about politics. It’s about public safety. And, we believe this law directly hampers our ability to effectively safeguard the boundaries of our respective counties,” Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli added.
The law passed in the House of Delegates 92-37 and in the state Senate 32-15 this week and became law without Democrat Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.
The lawsuit maintains that the law violates federal authority to implement legal immigration policy and is a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It also forces state law enforcement to break federal law by harboring illegal migrants and makes it impossible for local officials to abide by federal immigration law.
“Sanctuary laws are not only dangerous to our communities, but they are also flatly unconstitutional,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). “Our nation must speak with one voice when dealing with the national problem of illegal immigration, and the federal government must be able to pursue a unified policy, or the supremacy of federal law is in name only. The aim of this lawsuit is to allow Maryland sheriffs to go on keeping their communities safe by striking down this law’s blatant interference with crucially important national objectives.”
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