Congressmen Andy Harris and Johnny Olszewski laid out their stances on ongoing deportation efforts under President Donald Trump’s administration as well as their thoughts on the state of U.S. immigration policy.

Critics of President Trump’s deportation efforts have said that immigrants in the country illegally who don’t have criminal convictions could be swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. In response, Congressman Harris, the only Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, said, “The priority is to get the criminal element.”

“But if there are collateral people swept up who are in the country illegally, I think they should … leave the country, and if they want to come in under the legal processes we have, that’s fine, but they should go back to their home country,” he continued.

Olszewski, a Democrat, criticized the recently-passed Laken Riley Act, which he said allows for the detention of those simply accused and arrested of certain crimes, rather than convicted. Olszewski added that he would favor a hypothetical revised version that addresses that gap.

“In the case of a convicted violent criminal, we want to find ways to make sure we are following the law, but also supporting public safety efforts,” Olszewski said. “There’s a small gap in the current law that allows for perpetrators of domestic violence if they’re sentenced to a small sentence, to not be eligible for deportation. So we are actively working on a piece of legislation that would address that gap.”

Maryland allows local jurisdictions to decide how their law enforcement will work with ICE officials. Because of that, there are several different policies in place across the state.

For example, Harford County works with ICE and honors detainers. In Baltimore County, law enforcement provides ICE 48 hours notice when someone is going to be released from detention who has a detainer. However, that change — implemented while Olszewski was county executive — came after FOX45 reported that detainers were not being honored most of the time.

“I can only speak from my experience. I think we struck the right balance where we were not penalizing people for nonviolent offenses, especially if they’re just accused but not convicted of,” Olszewski said. “I think that we do have individuals who have been contributing to our economy — and really strengthening our communities in a lot of ways — who may not be here with formal status.”

Harris and Olszewski both commented on the ongoing debates over whether state and local officials should be compelled to comply with federal immigration efforts. Olszewski pointed out that state and local governments currently have the power to decide what’s best for them. Harris conceded that point but also noted that state and local officials can’t actively impede the federal efforts, even if they aren’t assisting in them.

One of President Trump’s executive orders rolled back previous protections from the Biden administration prohibiting where ICE can arrest and detain migrants. These “sensitive locations” include schools, hospitals, and churches. There’s a push in Annapolis to pass legislation prohibiting immigration enforcement activity at such sensitive spaces. If passed, such a law could be viewed as impeding federal immigration action, given the executive order from President Trump, according to Harris, which could lead to further issues for the state.

“The Administration has made it clear that they are not going to cooperate and fund jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with them on the deportation policies of the administration,” Congressman Harris said. “Maryland would be pennywise, pound foolish to do that. Maryland has a $3 billion budget gap, I don’t know why they’d want to add to it by threatening federal funding.”

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