County officials and immigrant advocacy groups on Thursday touted a bill they hope will prevent federal immigration personnel from so easily detaining and deporting county residents, while also making the community safer.

“When we say we’re going to support immigrants, we do it with action. It’s not a talking point. It’s not a sound bite,” said newly elected Council President Natali Fani-González.

The bill, dubbed the “Trust Act,” which already has backing from all council members, will be formally introduced to the council on Tuesday. There will be a public hearing about it in January.

The bill codifies a 2019 executive order from County Executive Marc Elrich.

The bill states that it:

• Explicitly prohibits voluntary, warrantless cooperation with ICE, including detainers, notifications and transfers;
• Restricts ICE access to county facilities without a judicial warrant signed by a judge;
• Prohibits discrimination by county agencies based on several protected classes, including immigration status;
• Prohibits the use of county resources, including staff time, funds, information systems or facilities from being used to support civil immigration enforcement
• Prevents any inquiry into or collection of immigration status by county agencies unless required by state or federal law.

Officials at Thursday’s media briefing, which lasted almost an hour, acknowledged that the bill is mostly a preventive measure. Actions seen in other communities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, such as detaining alleged undocumented residents in courthouses, and law enforcement’s participation in the 287(g) program, which enlists local police, sheriffs and jails in enforcing immigration laws, have not happened in Montgomery County.

However, Elrich said that ICE is still snatching people off the streets, and frequently detains people without any violent criminal history.

“We know that we are in a terrible place as a country,” Elrich said. “The idea that you can just pick people off the street, ask questions later, assault people and ask questions later, is just a little beyond the pale.”

“We see immigrants being kidnapped,” he continued. “We see immigrants being kidnapped as collateral damage.”

Codifying the executive order into law will prevent a new county executive from enacting an executive order that wipes the law off the books, Elrich said, noting that legislative action would be a much heavier lift.

Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said the stepped-up federal immigration enforcement has exacerbated a long-standing problem in law enforcement, which is getting certain community groups to call the police and cooperate with investigations.

“In order for the Montgomery County Police Department to be the most effective, we need every member of all of our communities to help us detect and report and prevent crime by calling the Police Department about dangerous or suspicious situations that they may observe,” he said.

Yamada added, “We do not care what language you speak. We do not care what the color of your skin is or where you were born.”

George Escobar, who officially begins as the new executive director of the immigrant advocacy group CASA in January, said on Thursday the federal government is functioning as an “authoritative regime.”

He said passing the Trust Act into law, which has the support of about three dozen nonprofits and unions, reflects a community working in lockstep.

“This is a government that is standing up proudly and making sure that we make a statement that we are one with our values and our principles.”