It’s already shaping up to be a busy day in Annapolis, where a key Senate committee will hear testimony on two bills aimed at restraining federal immigration enforcement in Maryland.

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions have grown increasingly violent under the second Trump administration, these bills have become a top issue for Democratic lawmakers.

We’ll have live reporting on the bill hearing all day today.

Here’s what we’re watching today:

• 🧊 The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will consider bills that would prohibit law enforcement from wearing face coverings, like many ICE officers do, and ban local governments from entering into enforcement agreements with ICE. Both are poised to move quickly through the legislature.
• 💵 Gov. Wes Moore unveiled a budget proposal that avoids tax and fee increases and instead uses spending cuts and cash transfers to close a $1.4 billion budget gap. Read more.
• ⚖️ That proposal does not include money for a pricey Baltimore jail facility, raising new questions about the already troubled project. Read more.

Check back here for live updates on the ICE bill hearing and more from the Banner’s team of politics reporters.

— Madeleine O’Neill

6:25 p.m.: Debate, but little doubt, about 287(g) legislation

With many testimonies still to go, the hearing on whether Maryland should end 287(g) agreements continues in the Senate.

Still up: county sheriffs with the contracts. Their testimony against will have little influence. The bill is expected to pass the Democratic-majority legislature.

Ahead of the hearing, CASA policy director Cathryn Jackson said she’s still in wait-and-see mode. The immigrant rights advocate said she’s watched for years as the General Assembly has considered but failed to pass similar bans.

“I don’t believe anything is a done deal until it’s done,” she said.

— Brenda Wintrode

5:27 p.m.: Committee moves on to 287(g) agreements

We’ve moved on from the masking bill to a second immigration bill that would ban local cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 287(g) program allows local police departments and sheriff’s offices to partner with ICE in certain areas of immigration enforcement.

Existing 287(g) agreements in Maryland allow corrections officers at local jails to ask the immigration status of someone they’ve arrested. Officers can then flag ICE and hold noncitizens for the feds for up to 48 hours after arrest.

Critics say the program harms trust between local police and their communities, making immigrants more fearful of calling for help in an emergency because they might face questions about their legal status.

Sen. Will Smith, the bill’s cosponsor and the chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, kicked off the first panel in support.

“We should no longer divert our precious and critical law enforcement resources to federal immigration enforcement. Instead, law enforcement should be providing focused on public safety,” Smith said.

He told the committee to keep the current ICE actions in mind as they consider the bill.

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, a Democrat and former member of the House of Delegates, brought the numbers. She presented the key contributions of the immigrant community to Maryland’s bottom line and urged a yes vote.

The ACLU’s Naureen Shah gave her take on the Trump administration’s use of contracts between local jails and ICE.

“They’re using 287(g) to consolidate their power and their reach into our communities to build a national policing force that is a threat to dissent,” she said.

— Madeleine O’Neill and Brenda Wintrode

5:11 p.m.: Wrapping up mask ban bill

In emotional testimony, a Carroll County woman recalled an ICE enforcement action captured on video that took place seven minutes from her house.

She recalled watching the video of a young girl recording masked ICE agents breaking the window of her mother’s car and aggressively detaining her.

“I heard the terrifying screams of a child begging a masked man in full tactical gear to not take her mother,” she said.

She pleaded with lawmakers to pass the bill in honor or Renee Good, a Minnesota woman shot and killed by ICE.

Lawmakers have now moved on to a bill banning enforcement agreements between ICE and local law enforcement.

— Brenda Wintrode

4:25 p.m.: A debate over legality of mask ban

Naureen Shah, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, and Sen. Chris West, a Republican from Baltimore County, are going back and forth on whether the anti-masking bill would be found constitutional.

The exchange has been going for some time and has grown confrontational.

“We can quote Supreme Court decisions to one another,” Shah said.

Committee Chairman Will Smith has had to intervene a few times to keep things moving forward.

— Lee Sanderlin

3:58 p.m.: Republicans argue against mask ban

The Republicans on the committee are trying to walk a tightrope between expressing their dislike of a masked police and poking holes in the anti-masking bill.

Sen. Mike McKay, a Republican from western Maryland, asked why wearing a mask needs to be a crime?

Sen. Bill Folden, a Frederick County Republican, argued that ICE officers face the new threat of doxxing, or having their identities and personal information made public, if they don’t wear masks. He also questioned whether the state has the authority to dictate federal law enforcement’s policies.

At least one Democrat has acknowledged the law could face a legal challenge and that it’s unclear how the courts would rule.

Some of the Democratic lawmakers are checked out, scrolling on their phones.

— Madeleine O’Neill and Lee O. Sanderlin

3:40 p.m.: Moore and Jeffries talk redistricting in D.C.

Gov. Wes Moore took a trip to Capitol Hill Thursday to talk redistricting and is upping the pressure on Senate President Bill Ferguson to hold a vote on proposed new congressional districts.

Moore met with U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, as well as with the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats.

A Moore-appointed advisory panel recommended a map this week that, if enacted, would make it difficult for the state’s lone Republican in Congress, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, to win re-election. Democrats are hoping that if Maryland can pick up that seat, it would help counteract Republican-favored maps that have been redrawn in Texas and elsewhere.

Moore wants Maryland to engage in the national partisan back-and-forth of map drawing, while Ferguson has said for months that it’s politically risky for Democrats and potentially legally unsound.

At the Capitol Hill gaggle, a reporter asked Moore how he would “get around” Ferguson’s opposition?

“My job is not to get around one person,” Moore said. “That’s not how democracy works. Democracy works when you allow for a vote.”

Moore also said he has “full faith” that Ferguson “is not going to suppress democracy.”

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents New York, said Marylanders deserve an up-or-down vote in Annapolis on the map.

“We’re in this fight until we win this fight for the American people,” Jeffries told reporters.

How will Ferguson respond?

His weekly press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, and it’s a safe bet this topic will come up.

— Pamela Wood

3:35 p.m.: A law enforcement group supports mask ban

Neill Franklin, a retired major with the Maryland State Police, spoke in favor of the mask ban bill on behalf of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.

“There should never be any government secrecy when someone’s constitutionally protected freedom is revoked,” he said.

— Brenda Wintrode

3:30 p.m.: Hold your applause

A police officer had to remind the audience in the hearing room that clapping is prohibited inside.

But outside, the crowd gathered in the hallway could be heard cheering and clapping through the doors for the first panel of witnesses who testified in favor of the anti-mask bill.

— Lee O. Sanderlin

3:20 p.m.: Can Maryland say no to masks?

Sen. Malcolm Augustine, a Prince George’s County Democrat, opened the hearing on a bill that would prevent federal agents from wearing masks, with some exceptions.

“Wearing a mask is simply not necessary for law enforcement to function,” he said.

Augustine acknowledged there may be legal challenges to the bill. The Trump administration has challenged a similar measure in California.

“It is unclear whether courts will uphold SB 1 if enacted. There are constitutional scholars on both sides of the argument,” he said.

“I would suggest that our charge is to pass this transparency legislation as our collective intent that masking in the normal course of duty has no tactical benefit but does pose a risk to our collective public safety by creating fear and anxiety.”

— Brenda Wintrode and Madeleine O’Neill

3:16 p.m.: ICE bills now up in committee

After some sleepy testimony on other bills, the Judicial Proceedings hearing room has filled back up with advocates as the hearing on bills to limit Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and programs gets underway.

— Lee O. Sanderlin

2:40 p.m.: Howard County’s SMOB rules

The student member of the Howard County school board has produced a surprising amount of controversy in recent years, including lawsuits that went to the state’s top court and federal court challenging rules allowing students to elect the member.

Now, some in Howard’s General Assembly delegation are looking to expand the power of the SMOB, or student member of the board, to allow them to vote on the school system’s budget.

Additionally, Democratic Del. Jen Tarassa has proposed a bill that would allow 16-year-olds to vote in school board elections.

The Banner’s Lillian Reed has the story here.

— John O’Connor

12:45 p.m.: Watch the hearing on bills to limit ICE enforcement

The Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee meets at 1 p.m., where they’ll discuss two immigration enforcement bills that are high priorities for Democratic lawmakers.

The first would prevent local law enforcement agencies from entering agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The second would ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks in Maryland.

The Banner’s Brenda Wintrode has more on ICE-related legislation here.

Watch the Senate hearing live at 1 p.m.

— John O’Connor

12:33 p.m.: 287(g) ban could move quickly

Since presiding officers of both chambers have already backed the bill, it’s likely to breeze through the General Assembly.

The bill’s cosponsors in both chambers said the bill will go through the legislative process, but it’s possible we could see a Senate committee vote on the ban as early as Tuesday.

— Brenda Wintrode

12:18 p.m.: Lawmakers, allies rally for bills limiting ICE enforcement

Advocates for bills limiting federal immigration enforcement in Maryland gathered in Annapolis for a media event before a 1 p.m. legislative hearing.

Sen. Will Smith, a Democrat from Montgomery County, is sponsoring the bill that would ban so-called 287(g) agreements that allow local agencies to enforce immigration law. Smith said this bill will not deter or prevent law enforcement from arresting criminals who are breaking the law.

“They will be detained regardless,” he said.

Del. Nicole Williams has the bill on the House side. The Prince George’s County Democrat said the bill comes at a “critical” time.

People are watching “horrified as this administration beats, abducts, murders people, including American citizens and veterans.”

The chairman of Maryland’s Latino Caucus said he agrees.

“There is no type of way you can look at this administration and ICE and not think of this as some type of cleansing,” said Del. Ashanti Martinez, a Prince George’s County Democrat.

— Brenda Wintrode

11:14 a.m.: New leadership for the Legislative Black Caucus

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland — believed to be the largest and oldest caucus of its kind in the nation — has new leadership.

Del. N. Scott Phillips, a Baltimore County Democrat, was elected Thursday as the caucus chair.

Sen. Shaneka Henson, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, was elected vice chair.

Phillips and Henson succeed the prior leaders, who were elevated to committee chair roles in the House of Delegates.

Former caucus chair Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, a Montgomery County Democrat, was named chair of the Ways and Means Committee; while former caucus Vice Chair Del. Melissa Wells, a Baltimore Democrat, now leads the House’s new Government, Labor and Elections Committee.

— Pamela Wood

9:40 a.m.: CASA responds to fears of retaliation over 287(g) ban

Republican sheriffs and lawmakers say banning cooperative agreements with ICE will make the public less safe and possibly draw the ire of a Trump administration looking to deport 1 million people a year.

One lawmaker said the feds could interpret the ban as “resistance” and possibly retaliate with more “boots on the ground.”

“Letting fear of retaliation dictate our laws is not good leadership,” said Cathryn Jackson, policy director for immigrant rights group CASA.

Bills banning 287(g) agreements have circulated around Annapolis for years. They’ve just never crossed the finish line. She’s heard this fear of punishment used as a reason to hold off before.

“Every year this doesn’t get passed, enforcement increases,” she said. “It gets worse no matter what.”

— Brenda Wintrode