Remarks as prepared
Delivered on Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Good morning, everybody.
We have been clear from jump street that my number one priority as Governor was going to make sure that we are protecting our people.
That keeping Marylanders safe is not a talking point; it is a sacred responsibility.
And it's one that I and we take very seriously every single day.
And I know who also does.
Our Speaker of the House, Joseline Peña-Melnyk, and Delegate Williams, and nearly every member of the House Democratic Caucus who sponsored this bill.
So does Senate President Ferguson, and Senator Smith, and Senator Lewis Young, and the Senate.
But you know who also does? Our friends at CASA. Our friends at the ACLU. And so many Marylanders who came, and fought, and advocated—who pushed tirelessly to pass this bill. Who made sure that, in this moment, that we could all collectively understand the assignment, but the only way to do it is making sure that everyone's voice was heard and everyone was supported.
Because here's what we know.
Safety in our communities does not come from having untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable personnel patrolling American streets.
And right now, let's be clear that ICE is the largest law enforcement agency in America.
It is larger than the FBI, it is larger than the DEA, and it is larger than the ATF.
ICE's budget in 2024 was $10 billion. Its budget now is $85 billion.
By funding, ICE is the 13th largest military force in the world.
ICE received more funding last year than our entire state budget.
And we've seen the results of an unaccountable agency with seemingly unlimited resources.
We've seen 5-year-old children detained. We've seen parents too scared to send their kids to school. We've seen mothers dragged out of their cars and communities living in fear.
We have seen a mother in Salisbury who was detained by ICE and simply asked to see her son because her son was dying—and was told no. And while detained, her son died of cancer.
I'm not sure how any of us are safer because of these actions.
And so, I want to be crystal clear about a few things.
One: our resources will be focused on, and we will continue to work with our federal partners to be able to address the worst of the worst in our society.
I also want to be clear about this too: We believe in constitutional policing. And we believe we do not have to choose.
What this bill does is just as important to understand what this bill does not do—and also the executive actions that this Administration is taking to ensure that everybody is clear.
This legislation does not authorize the release of criminals.
It does not prevent Maryland from working with the federal government to hold violent offenders accountable.
The people of this state know, and they are very clear after watching the first three years of this Administration, that we do not take violent offenders lightly.
We are going to make sure our communities are safe from people who are doing violent harm to them.
We will continue to coordinate on shared public safety priorities, including the lawful removal of noncitizen offenders who pose a risk to public safety.
We will continue to participate in joint task forces on criminal investigations.
We want ICE, though, focused on violent criminals and people who are doing true harm to our society, as was promised by the Trump-Vance Administration.
We need and we want these people to be captured and held accountable.
But what this bill does do is draw a very clear line.
It says that in Maryland, we defend constitutional rights and we defend constitutional policing. That we defend and we support the trained law enforcement in our state, and we will not allow them to be deputized by agencies that do not hold the same standards.
We believe in due process here in the State of Maryland, and we refuse to blur the lines between state and federal authority in ways that undermine the trust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve. And the best way to address crime is by making sure that the communities feel safe and want to be involved in the process to stop it in the first place.
In Maryland, we will not allow untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable agents to deputize our brave local law enforcement officers.
Because Maryland is a community of immigrants. It is not our weakness. It is our strength. This is not rhetoric. It is our reality.
In our immigrant community, there are educators, our caretakers, our engineers, our entrepreneurs, the members of local law enforcement.
They do the backbreaking work that helps to put food on our tables and the groundbreaking work at our universities that have made life-saving discoveries that have benefited all of us.
I stand here as the son of an immigrant—someone who understands the power of immigration. Someone who understands that's one of Maryland's secret sauces. And it's a secret sauce that we plan on protecting here.
And yet, right now, our neighbors, our friends, our family members are afraid because of the actions of this Trump-Vance ICE operation.
Making America great does not mean telling people you're not welcome here.
Making America great means realizing this country would be incomplete without each and every one of us.
And that's exactly what was required to make today happen: A very clear statement to our community that we believe in your safety. We believe in making sure that you are going to be safe from violent offenders. And also we believe in making sure that you are safe from unaccountable agents.
And so, I'm thankful for the work that you all did.
And I also know that more work is needed. We are watching an assault like we have not seen before, Maryland, in every way.
And there is nothing that we should not do to make sure not just that our people are protected, but also to make sure that our people can thrive.
I'm thankful to be able to turn the podium over to my partner in the work.
Someone who, in her example, reminds us of the power of immigrants in the State of Maryland because our Lieutenant Governor is an immigrant herself.
Someone who came to this country from India and has made this entire state proud.
Maryland, your amazing Lieutenant Governor, Aruna Miller.