Former state State Sen. Jim Brochin, who made the cut to the final five candidates for Baltimore County Executive, surprised his interview panel and audience by sounding more like Donald Trump than a Democratic candidate in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2 to 1.

“I will be retaining and expanding the county’s cooperation with the Justice Department in regard to ICE detainees at the Baltimore County detention center,” Brochin declared in a 15-minute address on Dec. 16. “If you have been convicted of a felony or a serious misdemeanor, and are in this county illegally, the federal government has every right to interview you to see if your crime makes you subject to deportation.”

Several councilmen and audience members, as well as some of the other finalists, described the rhetoric as surprising, shocking and out of step with current county policy. Since 2017, an executive order has been in place that prioritizes immigrants’ safety and vows not to arrest county residents for immigration violations.

“I was horrified,” said Peta Richkus, a former state secretary of general services who was in the audience supporting candidate Yara Cheikh. “It’s right out of the GOP playbook and he continues to pretend he’s a Democrat.”

Brochin’s pledge extends beyond where the county is now on the immigration issue. In 2017, Republican Councilman Todd Crandell attempted to pass a bill that would have required corrections officers in the Baltimore County jail to screen inmates for immigration violations, which could have led to deportation for certain offenses. After a fierce debate, then-County Executive Kevin Kamenetz issued the executive order protecting immigrants, which remains in effect today.

Brochin said Monday he made the statement because of concerns stemming from his years hearing horror stories of crimes while on the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee and from the beating death of Rachel Morin, a Harford County mother of four who was killed in August 2023. A Salvadoran man who entered the country illegally faces murder and rape charges in Morin’s death.

Baltimore County has a guideline of holding detainees for 48 hours before they are released; Brochin would like that hold to be longer if ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials want an interview. He said he had no information that the county had not been doing that, but also none that it was.

“I’m trying to solve a problem that could exist at some time in the future, and could have happened already, but we just don’t know,” said Brochin. “The Olszewski administration has not released any details as to whether that has or has not happened.”

County spokeswoman Erica Palmisano said the county and ICE came to an understanding in June and issued a joint statement that the county detention center would make “every effort” to notify federal officials of a detainee’s release 48 hours prior or more “whenever possible” to “best support this shared work.” However, outgoing County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s focus has been on providing services for immigrants “to support and uplift our neighbors,” she said.

On Monday, the council announced a call for residents to serve on a new Immigrant Affairs Commission. Applications will be accepted through Jan. 10.

Though crime from those entering the country illegally has become a Republican talking point, there’s never been evidence that immigrants commit crimes at greater rates than the rest of the population. Crime from illegal immigrants in Baltimore County has not been a big issue, Palmisano said.

Under Olszewski, the county convened a New American Task Force; it released a Welcoming and Belonging Strategic Plan, which outlines ways to help immigrants continue to thrive in the county. While Baltimore County’s overall population has shrunk since 2020, its foreign born population is increasing. The number of county residents who were born outside the United States surpassed 110,000 in 2022 — the third-largest number in Maryland. About 3% of the county’s 850,000 residents — or around 25,000 residents — are living in the country without legal permission. The vast majority are working and paying taxes.

Baltimore County was the first large county in Maryland to formally challenge the first Trump administration’s promised immigration crackdown.

Brochin, however, has always been more conservative than his party. He was one of the few Democrats to vote against the 2011 Dream Act, a state measure that allows the children of immigrants not in the country legally — known as Dreamers — to pay in-state tuition for community colleges if their parents were paying taxes. He also told the council he was the only Democrat in the legislature to endorse the reelection bid of then-Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, in 2018. “I do not think that Baltimore County should be a sanctuary county,” he said.

All four council Democrats said in interviews over the weekend that they were uncomfortable with Brochin’s ICE statement.

“It was not a needed comment, it was not called for, and it’s super-sensitive based on Trump’s plans now. I don’t think it was productive rhetoric, honestly,” said Councilman Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat who helped to run Brochin’s 2018 campaign for county executive. Brochin lost the Democratic primary to Olszewski that year by 17 votes.

Experts have attributed Trump’s election in part to a second-term to voter concerns about immigrants in the country illegally, passions that have been fanned by conservative Republicans and media outlets like FOX News. Democrats largely shied away from the issue in the 2024 election.

The opening for county executive was created by Olszewski’s election to Congress; he will resign and be sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 3.

Under the county charter, the council will appoint an executive to serve out the last two years of his term. Besides Brochin, candidates include Cheikh, state Sen. Kathy Klausmeier, former county parks director Barry Williams, and former county environmental director George Perdikakis. Candidates need four votes.

Cheikh has spoken about being the proud daughter of immigrants from Syria and Ireland; Perdikakis told the council he came to New York City from Greece in 1966 with “$50 dollars in my pocket, knowing two vocabulary words of English, ‘liberty,’ and ‘stop,’” and advice from his father — that a job is a privilege, and hard work creates opportunities.

Some say Brochin may have been trying to win over the council’s three Republicans, but Councilman Julian Jones, a Democrat, said the former senator may have miscalculated.

The council wants the county’s new leader to finesse the budget to avoid raising taxes; continue projects in place like road repair and permit issuance; and increase public safety. Since Crandell’s bill failed, the ICE issue has not reemerged. The bipartisan council, Jones said, is more focused on cooperating on areas of agreement.

Councilman Pat Young thought Brochin’s remark was a gambit to pander to Republicans.

“I think he was trying to use the topic for a dog whistle term for certain folks,” said Young, a Catonsville Democrat. But Young said Brochin, a conservative Democrat for 14 years in the state Senate, may have misread the room. Even many county Republicans no longer speak of deportation and sanctuary cities. Young considered Brochin’s remarks “unfair, and un-American.”

Brochin said he was not pandering, but rather trying to offer specific solutions. “Do I think ICE detainers are a major problem? No, of course not. I dedicated two sentences to it and moved on,” he said. “I think I am the only one bringing real solutions. I’m the most balanced and bipartisan.”

At least one Republican wasn’t won over. Councilman David Marks, who initially co-sponsored Crandell’s 2017 bill, ultimately voted against it. Marks said he worries about the legality of Brochin’s suggestion to expand the program, and said such a measure would not pass the current council. Marks said the bigger issue is public safety in general; many car crashes occur in his White Marsh district. Police continue to investigate last week’s Loch Raven crash and shooting, which left one person dead and nine injured. And many of the county’s repeat offenders, according to county officials, were born right here.

The council will select a new county executive on Jan. 6. vote on Jan. 6 and will announce the decision after the vote.