DC Suburb Moves To Ban ICE From Government Property, Unmask Agents

Council members in Montgomery County, Maryland, introduced bills Tuesday to create both literal and legal barriers against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating within the county.

The two bills prohibit the masking of ICE agents and bar them from entering county facilities without a judicial warrant.

“They cannot force us to participate in their regime of terror,” Councilmember Will Jawando said at a press conference following the legislation’s introduction Tuesday.(RELATED: Trump’s ICE Recruited Army Of Sheriffs, Jails Before State Went Blue)

Jawando is the lead sponsor of the Unmask ICE Act, Bill 5-26, which prohibits the masking of all law enforcement officers operating within the county, according to a statement released Friday.

Jawando said exceptions will be made for medical needs, cold weather conditions and SWAT operations, but masks will not be used for intimidation or to avoid accountability.

Councilmember Laurie-Anne Sayles said at the press briefing that although the law applies to all officers, it will help community members distinguish ICE from the unmasked county police.

Jawando agreed, saying the bills will not stop ICE from operating, but will establish a “basic standard” to follow.

“If you want to act as law enforcement in our community, show your face like every other officer,” he said.

“You don’t build trust by hiding who you are,” he added.

Jawando compared the masking of ICE agents to brief stints of the Ku Klux Klan operating as a form of law enforcement in some parts of the country, adding that “history is repeating itself.”

Jawando thanked Maryland residents for “rejecting” the ICE’s actions.

The companion bill, the County Values Act, Bill 3-26, led by Councilmember Kristin Mink, makes county facilities require that ICE obtain a judicial warrant before entering “any areas not open to the general public,” according to the statement. (RELATED: Feds Claim ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Suffered From Internal Bleeding To Torso)

The bill also mandates that county facilities train staff, create signage barring ICE from restricted areas and requires the county to post a signage template for optional use by private businesses, the statement said.

Mink encouraged businesses to take the same stance and said the county will “erect physical blockades” in parking lots where ICE meets to make plans or transfer detainees.

“We would all like to hope the extremities of this federal occupation won’t be unleashed here,” Mink said, referencing clashes between law enforcement and protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She claimed that ICE’s operations in Montgomery County are “in many ways illegal and unconstitutional, and in all ways immoral.”

Mink acknowledged the laws may not be effective.

“We have laws against murder, and they still shot Renee Good,” she said. “This is a lawless federal administration, and we still have a job to do.”

Jawando also spoke about Good, characterizing her as a mother who dropped her 6-year-old son off at school before being “shot by a masked ICE agent.”

“This is what federal immigration enforcement looks like in 2026,” Jawando said.

Jawando and Mink did not reply to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.