Two key bills unleashing unsustainable numbers of illegal aliens in Maryland and further eroding public health and safety have a Scheduled Hearing on Wednesday, January 27.
INSTRUCTIONS
The online signup window for written and oral testimony for the January 27th online hearings is strictly limited to today, Monday, January 25th, from 10am to 3pm.
Attached are the two bill descriptions, and talking points that you can use to draft your testimonies.
The procedure for online signup is more complicated than in previous years. Written testimony must be uploaded in PDF format to your MyMGA account during the 10am to 3pm window on Monday. You can also signup as an individual or as a group for a chance to be randomly selected to provide oral testimony via Zoom at the online legislative hearing that will be livestreamed on Youtube. Only two individuals and two groups will be chosen to testify in opposition to the bills.
All Written Testimony can be accepted if it is filed on time in the 10am to 3pm window on Monday.
1. Start by creating a MyMGA account by going to this page.
2. Watch the short videos for my new MGA and witness signup.
3. Login to your MyMGA account during the Monday 10am to 3pm window and select the relevant committees to find the sanctuary bills to upload your written testimony in pdf format and to enter the lottery for oral testimony. Please oppose the sanctuary state bill (SB 88) and the funding for illegal immigrant defense bill (SB 317) in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.
4. The witness signup video explains how to find these committees and bills, but here it is written out.
5. Under the committees tab, enter 'Senate Judicial Proceedings' and then select the SB 88 sanctuary state bill (Participation in Federal Immigration Enforcement). Select the 'written' option if you only want to upload written testimony.
Select the 'both' option to upload your testimony and to be entered in the lottery to offer oral testimony. Click the 'upload files' button to upload your pdf formatted testimony in opposition to this bill.
Next, select the SB 317 bill to oppose funding for legal representation for illegal immigrants ( Right to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings Coordinator). Select 'written' and upload your testimony in pdf format, or use the 'both' option to upload your testimony and to enter the lottery for oral testimony.
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Maryland Hearing - Sanctuary Bill and Legal Representation Bill
BACKGROUND AND POINTS FOR TESTIMONY ON BILLS
January 27
Senate Judicial Proceedings:
SB 88 - State and Local Government - Participation in Federal Immigration Enforcement
- Prevents law enforcement officers from asking about citizenship or immigration status during a stop, search, or arrest
- Prevents law enforcement from detaining someone without a judicial warrant to investigate citizenship or immigration status or because the officer believes they are in the US illegally
- Prevents transfers of individuals to federal immigration officers without a judicial warrant
- Prevents notifying federal immigration officers of an individual's information (i.e. location/address) without a judicial warrant
- Prevents state/local public officials from coordinating with federal immigration officials
- Prevents state/local public officials from giving immigration officers access to buildings beyond what is accessible to the public
- Prevents public officials from notifying federal immigration officers about an individual's release from a correctional facility
- Prohibits communication with federal immigration officials
- Prohibits public officials from questioning an individual about citizenship or immigration status
- Prohibits public officials from entering into an intergovernmental service agreement or other agreement related to immigration enforcement with federal officials
- To prove identity an individual may provide a Driver's license or ID card from a foreign country, a passport from a foreign country, or a document issued by a consulate or embassy that identifies an individual. These forms of ID may not subject an individual to a higher level of scrutiny. These documents, however, cannot be used for identification for employment verification.
- This legislation requires public officials to notify an individual who is the subject of an inquiry by immigration officials.
- Schools, hospitals, and courthouses must develop and publish guidelines to limit immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible.
Talking Points Opposing SB 88
- Sanctuary policies like the ones proposed by SB 88 conflict with federal law. In 1996, Congress adopted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act that barred state and local governments from prohibiting law enforcement and state and local officials from providing, receiving, or sharing information on illegal aliens with federal immigration officials.
- States that implement sanctuary policies become a magnet for more illegal immigration which results in higher costs of living, reduced job availability, lower wages, and higher crime rates.
- Sanctuary policies shift the cost of illegal immigration onto citizens and legal immigrants.
- Sanctuary policies insult legal immigrants who respect our laws and patiently waited for years and paid thousands of dollars to come to the US the right way.
- Sanctuary policies pose national security and public safety risks.
SB 317 - Office of the Attorney General - Right to Counsel in Immigration Proceedings Coordinator
- Creates a coordinator in the Attorney General's Office for a right to counsel in immigration proceedings.
- The role of the coordinator is to organize services and resources in order to provide legal representation to individuals detained in Maryland or who are Maryland residents detained in another state and are subject to removal from the United States.
- If the individual is a Maryland resident who is detained outside the state and the coordinator cannot get them legal representation, then the coordinator shall give this individual a stipend to subsidize their legal representation costs.
- The legal representation goes until there is a final judgment by the Board of Immigration Appeals and all other legal matters affecting relief such as family court proceedings and habeas petitions have final judgments.
- The coordinator must also designate community groups to educate individuals and families impacted by immigration detention by hosting "know-your-rights" workshops, distributing written information, assisting communities in the formation and maintenance of neighborhood defense committees and any other activity to inform individuals about their rights.
- If a local jurisdiction provides legal representation to individuals in deportation proceedings, the coordinator shall direct the funding that would have gone to the individual's representation to the jurisdiction.
Talking Points Opposing SB 317
- Illegal aliens should not be provided taxpayer-funded legal representation. The law provides legal representation for criminal prosecutions only. Most immigration proceedings, including removal proceedings are civil and do not trigger free representation. The Supreme Court has ruled that deportation is not a punishment but rather a civil administrative procedure whereby an illegal alien is returned to their homeland.
- Providing taxpayer-funded legal representation is unfair because it is unavailable to legal aliens or citizens who are required to pay out of their own pockets for their own civil legal proceedings.
- Providing taxpayer-funded legal representation to illegal aliens further strains the state's limited financial resources in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Providing legal representation to illegal aliens frustrates federal law which expressly prohibits the federal government from funding illegal aliens in removal proceedings. Aliens who wish to be represented by legal counsel are free to do so, but federal law requires that it must be offered at no cost to the government.
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