Maryland\u2019s sanctuary state bill simply will not stay dead.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s version was all over the news, and while this year\u2019s edition may not be in the headlines yet, it\u2019s no less dangerous.<\/p>\n
Just over a year ago, Delegate Marice Morales and Senator Victor Ramirez introduced HB 1632<\/a>, the \u201cMaryland Trust Act, \u201d<\/a> a bill that would \u00a0turn the Old Line State into a sanctuary for illegal aliens.<\/p>\n Initially, the bill looked like it would sail through the Maryland legislature.\u00a0 However, on March 17, 2017, two male students at Rockville High School were arrested<\/a> for allegedly raping their fourteen-year-old female classmate in a school bathroom stall.\u00a0 Both suspects were in the United States illegally<\/a>, and one was already in deportation proceedings<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Montgomery County has been a sanctuary county since at least 2014<\/a>, so it\u2019s hardly surprising the two illegal aliens were still in school endangering other students.\u00a0 \u00a0And the negative national and international media coverage<\/a> the case garnered wasn\u2019t enough to stop the House of Delegates from passing the sanctuary state bill three days later by a wide margin, 83-55<\/a>.<\/p>\n As soon as it passed, Governor Larry Hogan described the bill as \u201coutrageously irresponsible\u201d and \u201cdangerously misguided,\u201d promising to veto<\/a> it \u201cthe moment\u201d it reached his desk.\u00a0 Under heavy public scrutiny, previous support in the Maryland Senate rapidly melted away. \u00a0A narrower Senate version, SB 835<\/a>, was voted down<\/a> by the Senate\u2019s Judicial Proceedings Committee, despite its Democratic majority.\u00a0 And ultimately, the sanctuary bill died at the end of the legislative session.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s 2018 and suddenly Maryland has a sanctuary state bill yet again.\u00a0 House Bill 1461<\/a>, absurdly called the SAFE Act (for \u201cSupporting All Families Everywhere\u201d) was filed on February 9.\u00a0 Like last year\u2019s Trust Act, it violates federal law by prohibiting state and local law enforcement from honoring immigration detainers without judicial warrants and from asking about anyone\u2019s immigration status.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the woeful immigration situation that led to the death of last year\u2019s bill has only gotten worse.\u00a0 Both Montgomery County<\/a> and the City of Rockville<\/a> have adopted far-reaching sanctuary policies, and while the charges against the accused Rockville High students were ultimately dropped<\/a>, there\u2019s hardly been any lack of horrific new crimes<\/a> by illegal aliens.<\/p>\n Hopefully, logic will prevail and this year\u2019s sanctuary insanity will meet the same fate as last year\u2019s bill.