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A Maryland sheriff is warning that the state’s new sanctuary law could put dangerous illegal immigrants back on the streets and leave more American families mourning crimes he says could have been prevented.
"It’s just a matter of time," Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told Fox News Digital, warning that the restrictions will lead to more crime and more victims.
Gahler delivered the blunt warning after testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee about Maryland’s restrictions on cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. He is also leading 16 fellow sheriffs, representing two-thirds of the state, in a lawsuit challenging the Community Trust Act.
The 40-year law enforcement veteran said his greatest fear is that the law will force correctional officers to release an illegal immigrant from jail even after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has flagged that person as a public safety or national security threat.
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Gahler said the law could force jail officials to release an inmate who is otherwise eligible to leave local custody instead of transferring that person directly to ICE.
"I don’t want to have to open the jail door and say, ‘Welcome back to Harford County. Go victimize. Let’s create some more victims,’" he said. "That is insane."
If someone released under the law commits another crime, Gahler said responsibility would rest with the elected officials who imposed the restrictions.
"So whose hands is it on?" he said. "The politicians."
Gahler said he testified to give lawmakers a view from the front lines after years of warnings from law enforcement leaders. He accused state officials of understanding the risks but choosing politics over public safety.
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"I think they understand. I think they don’t care," Gahler said. "Those who are on the side of the issue supporting criminal illegal immigration, who voted for this nonsense of ending our agreements and coming up with the Community Trust Act … they do not care."
"We have a criminal-friendly legislature," he added. "It’s all pro-criminal."
Gahler pointed to two families in his county whose lives were shattered by illegal immigrant killers.
Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was raped and murdered on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air in August 2023. Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
Kayla Hamilton, a 20-year-old autistic woman, was raped and strangled inside her Aberdeen home in July 2022. Walter Javier Martinez, a suspected MS-13 member from El Salvador who entered the U.S. illegally as an unaccompanied minor, was sentenced to life in prison, with all but 70 years suspended.
Gahler said neither woman should be reduced to a political talking point and accused supporters of Maryland’s immigration restrictions of failing to show genuine concern for their families.
"No one called Patty Morin" after Rachel’s murder, Gahler said. He added that no one contacted Kayla’s mother, Tammy Nobles, to express condolences or promise to fight for the two Harford County victims.
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"I simply think that there are those in Annapolis and those in Washington who do not care," he added. "It’s politics over public safety."
The Community Trust Act limits when Maryland authorities can question people about their immigration status, hold them over suspected civil violations or notify ICE that they are in custody.
Gov. Wes Moore allowed the measure to become law without his signature.
"Maryland will never be a sanctuary for criminals under Governor Moore," Rhyan Lake, Senior Communications Strategist for Moore, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In fact, since Governor Moore took office, Maryland is seeing some of the largest drops in violent crime in the country."
"We will always work with the federal administration when it comes to making our communities safer, but untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents arresting five-year-olds and ripping mothers from their families does not make anyone safer," Lake continued. "In Maryland, we’ll continue holding violent offenders accountable and protecting Marylanders’ constitutional rights and basic dignity."
Gahler and the other sheriffs argue that the restrictions dismantled a safe, jail-based partnership with ICE under the federal 287(g) program. He stressed that his deputies were not conducting immigration raids or doing the work of federal agents.
"We do not do ICE’s job for them," Gahler said. "We work with our federal partners. We don’t replace our federal partners."
He said the program applied to people already jailed on criminal allegations and allowed ICE transfers to occur inside the secure facility instead of through potentially more dangerous arrests after their release.
"Our 287(g) program identified those people who were here committing criminal offenses against our citizens and are in the country illegally," Gahler said. "Then we turned them over safely in the security and safety of our jail after they were already in custody."
"Anytime we don’t have to do a raid in law enforcement, it’s safer," he added. "You have the person secured. Turn them over to ICE because ICE says they pose a threat to public safety or national security."
Gahler said opposition to the program has ebbed and flowed with the political climate. He noted that Harford County joined under President Barack Obama, but said Maryland critics renewed their opposition when President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
"They’re doing it for purely political reasons and not public safety," Gahler said. "That’s complete nonsense."
He compared Maryland with California, saying the two Democrat-led states appeared to be competing over policies he believes favor offenders over victims.
"I look at Maryland and California as playing a game of tennis," Gahler said, accusing the states of "whacking the ball back and forth across the court to see who can be more idiotic."
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The sheriff also tied his fight to the approaching 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A Maryland State Police commander on 9/11, Gahler said the tragedy exposed deadly communication gaps among law enforcement agencies, barriers he believes Maryland is now rebuilding.
"The complete takeaway from 9/11 was that we didn’t communicate" effectively across local, state and federal agencies, Gahler said. Yet 25 years later, he argued, Maryland has moved dangerously far from that lesson.
"The Community Trust Act … forbids us from talking to a federal law enforcement partner," he continued. "It doesn’t get any more stupid than that. When you see terrible legislation, that’s as bad as it gets."
Gahler said the sheriffs will keep pressing their case in court and speaking out for victims. Unless state leaders change course, he warned, more families will join a grim and growing list.
"Our job should be to stop increasing the number of angel families," Gahler said, "and stop allowing American citizens to be the victims of crime committed by people who are in our country illegally."
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
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