Justice Department sued Maryland to strike down the Community Trust Act limiting state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement

On July 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the State of Maryland in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, asking the court to strike down the Community Trust Act. The act, enacted in Maryland in 2026, limits the extent to which state and local law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities — barring officials from honoring civil ICE detainer requests and from transferring people from local jails into ICE custody, and requiring a judicial warrant rather than an administrative one before local officers detain someone on immigration grounds.

In its complaint, the Justice Department alleged that Maryland had undertaken an "active and deliberate effort" to obstruct federal immigration enforcement and argued that the law is preempted by the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the state's policies interfered with the federal government's authority over immigration. The filing cited a May 29, 2026 incident in which officials at the Worcester County jail declined to honor an ICE detainer.

The suit was the latest in a series of Justice Department actions pressuring states to abandon laws that constrain federal immigration operations. Maryland officials said the state would continue to cooperate with federal authorities where doing so served public safety; Attorney General Anthony Brown declined to comment on the filing, and Governor Wes Moore's office said Maryland's law allows continued coordination to remove violent offenders.