Posted on 01/20/26
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD- Jan. 20, 2026 - More than half of Marylanders support local jurisdictions having some coordination with federal immigration enforcement inside detention facilities, according to a new poll obtained by FOX45 News.
The Gonzales Poll, conducted Dec. 21 through Jan. 6, shows approximately 54% of Marylanders support giving local jails the legal authority to run background checks on all detainees in cooperation with ICE. The poll was conducted for the Maryland Freedom Caucus, a caucus in the House of Delegates with seven Republican members from the chamber.
Currently, eight jurisdictions in Maryland have opted to participate in a program called 287(g), which allows officers in detention facilities to alert federal immigration authorities if someone who’s already in custody has an immigration detainer.
According to the poll, 44% of Marylanders oppose this corporation, and 2% provided no answer.
Democrats this legislative session, including Senate President Bill Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, have been clear about their opposition to the program and working with ICE in general. Banning the 287(g) program in Maryland is a top priority for the legislative leaders, along with several other ICE-related bill proposals.
The partisan divide over this issue is clear, the poll found. Nearly 66% of Democrats indicated they oppose the background check on detainees in cooperation with ICE, while 86% of Republican voters support the plan. The poll found that 72% of unaffiliated voters support the coordination as well.
The crosstabs reveal the split appears along more than just party lines. Almost 60% of younger Marylanders between 18 and 34 years old – 59% - oppose the cooperation between local jurisdictions and ICE, while 61% of Marylanders between 50 and 64 years old support it, and 58% of those 65 years old and older do as well. Marylanders between 35 years old and 49 years old are more split: 51% support the cooperation, while 46% oppose.
Older, rural Marylanders – and often white – indicate the strongest support for the cooperation, while younger voters and people living in Baltimore City are the most opposed
Harford County is one of the eight jurisdictions in Maryland with the 287(g0 program in place. Sheriff Jeff Gahler has been a vocal supporter of the program and has argued lawmakers in Annapolis who are opposed to the plan are playing politics.
“You’re going to see us participating in this program open our jail doors to these criminal offenders, people arrested for other things not related to immigration, open our jail arrested in,” Gahler said.
However, Senate President Ferguson pushed back on that argument and called it a fear tactic.
“I mean, I think if you think what ICE is doing and you're worried about more ICE agents being out in communities, we have a fundamental problem, full stop,” he said Friday.