Enforcement and Removal Operations officers (ERO) from the Baltimore office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement seen in a Sept. 7, 2023, photo. Photo courtesy Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
President-elect Donald Trump is promising mass deportations. A new poll says an overwhelming majority of Marylanders are OK if local police cooperate with feds on immigration. For Rep. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s), that means the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus has its work cut out for it.
“We have a tall task in protecting folks here in Maryland, and we only have 90 days” in the legislative session that started Wednesday, said Martinez, the chair of the caucus.
“Knowing that Maryland could be a target of the new administration’s immigration policies, our No. 1 priority is protecting families,” Martinez said. “We want to make sure that we keep families together.”
He said he is encouraged by ongoing conversations with Gov. Wes Moore (D) and other state lawmakers: In addition to the seven members with a Hispanic heritage, there are 83 lawmakers from both chambers who are associate members of the caucus.
“That collective voice gets laws passed,” Martinez said. “It helps build bridges and create allies across the state.”
The caucus was co-founded in 2014 by Dels. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) and David Fraser-Hidalgo (D, Montgomery). Since its founding, the caucus’ mission is unchanged, said Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery), the caucus vice chair.
“Our mission, our north star, our guiding principle has remained the same, which is to ensure the advancement of the Latino community here in Maryland, while also protecting the gains that we have made as a community, as well as highlighting the contributions of Latinos in Maryland,” Acevero said.
Building on existing protections
Acevero said that among those caucus-backed protections is the 2022 Dignity, Not Detention Act, which required U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to close Maryland detention centers, barred family separations and prohibited police coercion based on immigration status.
Acevero said the legislation, which builds greater trust in the migrant community of local police, makes communities safer. One of the caucus’ goals this session is to bolster that law, he said.
“And, so we are building on the Dignity, Not Detention Act and making sure that we are protecting those gains, ensuring that no new contracts are initiated between ICE and local jurisdictions,” Acevero said.
Along those lines, Martinez said he expects to introduce measures during this session that prohibit use of local funds for federal immigration law enforcement, “to make sure that our local jurisdictions are focused on delivering for those jurisdictions not doing the jobs of the federal government.”
He says other agenda items include a bill to ensure data privacy, framed differently than the 2024 Maryland Online Privacy Act, and a measure aimed at ensuring that safe places remain safe.
“We want to make sure that churches, schools, and hospitals remain safe spaces for the community,” he said.
While the mission of the caucus has remained focused on key issues affecting the Latino community, over the years it has effectively leveraged its membership to help pass a range of bills, its members say, including the 2022 Healthy Babies Equity Act, that expanded Medicaid to cover prenatal and postpartum care regardless of immigration status.
Last year the caucus reviewed 53 bill requests and supported 48 pieces of legislation, 19 of which 19 became law on topics ranging from housing, education, and child welfare to its top priority, the Access to Care Act.
That law will allow access, beginning next year, to the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange for all tax-paying Marylanders, regardless of their documentation status. Supporters said it could save the state up to $170 million a year in uncompensated care.
Mitigating future federal immigrant policies
But the work has just begun for freshman Del. Teresa Woorman (D, Montgomery), who was appointed last summer to fill the House seat that was vacated by Sara Love when she was elevated to the state Senate. Woorman joined the Latino Caucus shortly thereafter.
Born in Puebla, Mexico, and brought to the United States by her family at age 9, Woorman became a naturalized citizen in college. No newcomer to politics, she served as executive vice president for the Young Democrats of Maryland, as a policy fellow in the Maryland General Assembly, and she managed County Executive Mark Elrich’s reelection campaign.
Woorman says she brings that immigrant experience to the job.
Attendees at a Coppin State University event promoting the school’s greater Latino presence included, from left, Del. Teresa Woorman, Caucus Executive Director Jason Avila, Del. Ashanti Martinez, Coppin State University President Anthony L. Jenkins, Del. Gabriel Acevero and Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk. Photo courtesy Coppin State University.
“I was a staffer in the General Assembly, and I saw how the legislature tried to be the firewall against harmful federal policies,” she said. “[I] am ready to be that front line again.”
As is Acevero, an Afro-Venezuelan born in Trinidad. He is the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to the Maryland General Assembly, where he has served since 2019. A Black Lives Matters activist, he championed the Maryland Dream Act and Marriage Equality, which both won voter approval.
Acevero says he will use that same energy to mitigate the actions of the incoming Trump administration.
“We won’t be distracted by any divisive language or any attempts to scapegoat our community, but we will fight back against any policies that unjustly targets our communities, singles us out, and essentially erodes the gains we’ve made,” he said.
Martinez knows the political territory, having worked in constituent services in Prince George’s County and as a policy analyst for CASA, the region’s largest immigrant advocacy organization. He is now is the first Latino, and openly gay, person to represent Prince George’s County in the General Assembly.
Despite the “tall task” the caucus faces, Martinez said its members are ready for what may come next.
“We are focused on doing all we can to protect Maryland families, to elevate the voices of impacted people,” he said.
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