Baltimore is a Welcoming City: Baltimore Police Department officers do not ask about immigration status. The Maryland Trust Act (MD §2-201 et seq.) limits state and local cooperation with civil ICE detainers.
Baltimore's Welcoming City policy, codified in BPD General Order J-7 and Mayor's Executive Order, bars officers and most city employees from inquiring about immigration status, conditioning services on status, or honoring civil ICE detainers without a judicial warrant. The Maryland Trust Act (Public Safety §2-201 through §2-207, signed 2021) prohibits state and local agencies from inquiring about immigration status during routine encounters and from holding individuals on civil detainers absent probable cause or a judicial warrant. Schools, hospitals, and city service centers are non-cooperation zones. The policies do not block compliance with criminal warrants.
Officers or city employees who violate Welcoming City rules face departmental discipline and civil claims; ICE has no city-court remedy. Criminal warrant cooperation remains required statewide.
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See how Baltimore's sanctuary policy preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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