OUR PURPOSE
Citizens For A Strong and Safe Howard County is an initiative aimed to overturn Council Bill 2020, the law passed by the Howard County Council that formalizes Howard County as a Sanctuary Jurisdiction for illegal immigrants.
Our team successfully secured enough petition signatures in early 2021 for the Board of Elections to place the referendum on the November 2022 ballot.
That means voters - not politicians - will decide whether Howard County becomes a Sanctuary Jurisdiction for illegal immigrants.
ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 8th, 2022
Early voting will be available from Thursday, October 27, 2022 through Thursday, November 3, 2022 (including Saturday and Sunday) from 7 am to 8 pm.
Vote NO on Question A to Repeal Howard's Sanctuary County Law
THE POLLS OPEN IN:
SANCTUARY LAWS HURT HOWARD COUNTY
Vote NO on Question A
Here's why Howard County's Sanctuary County Law (CB-63) Is Bad Policy.
CB-63 is unfair to LEGAL immigrants.
Tolerating illegal immigration and providing a "safe haven" for illegal aliens is unfair to immigrants who respect our nation's laws.
In addition to waiting months or years to come here, legal immigrants abide by the entry, employment, health, and processing laws and regulations set by our government.
Besides giving future prospective immigrants little incentive to follow the law, sanctuary policies are an affront to those who do it the right way.
Sanctuary policies such as CB-63 threaten public safety. Look what's happening in Montgomery Co.
The number of undocumented individuals living or conducting business in Howard County is unknown.
However, many of these criminal aliens continue to live in communities and engage in further criminal activity when state and local law enforcement are prohibited from cooperating with federal immigration officials.
Read about the particular illegal alien in nearby Montgomery County.
CB-63 makes Howard County Police Department less effective at stopping crime.
When police are prevented by law from coordinating and communicating, everyone is at more risk. CB-63 heavily restricts the Howard County Police Department from cooperating with federal law enforcement personnel on matters involving undocumented immigrants.
Under CB-63, if ICE wants to conduct an operation in Howard County, HCPD is prevented from assisting, even if the request pertains to criminal gang operations!
Recently, neighboring Montgomery County was moved to throttle back portions of its Sanctuary Law after a series of sexual assault cases, including one that took place inside a public high school.
By impeding HCPD's ability to cooperate with federal immigration officials, sanctuary policies create an environment where terrorists and other criminal aliens can go undetected and uninterrupted.
CB-63 conflicts with federal law.
In 1996, Congress adopted the illegal immigration reform and immigrant responsibility act to prohibit state and local governments from restricting their employees from sharing and receiving information regarding illegal aliens with the federal government.
Sanctuary policies that shield criminal aliens from the administration of Federal law conflict with the execution of immigration law as Congress intended.
8 U.S. Code § 1373 states that “a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”
CB-63 will cost Howard County taxpayers millions.
Illegal immigration is a huge burden to state and local governments, costing taxpayers an estimated $113 billion nationally.
In Howard County, these costs come in the form of educational, healthcare, welfare, and law enforcement expenditures to illegal aliens and their families.
By giving them a place to live and work where they can go undetected, sanctuary policies encourage further illegal immigration that only serves to increase these costs.
Do you want to pay additional taxes to support a growing illegal immigrant population?
CB-63 invites undocumented immigrants to Howard County under the false pretense they will be free from immigration enforcement.
As many have already pointed out, Howard County's Sanctuary County Law (CB-63) will not protect undocumented immigrants from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and cannot prevent immigrants from being deported.
As the Supreme Court has held, only the federal government has authority over all immigration enforcement.
The Howard County Police Department is responsible for the investigation and enforcement of criminal law, and has never been engaged in the enforcement of immigration laws.
This bill’s own language states it will not supersede any federal or state law, or any existing agreement between the County and any other federal, state or local government.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Referendum Question On Howard's Sanctuary County Status Will Appear On Ballot
Baltimore Sun - January 2021
Sanctuary Bills in Maryland Faced a Surprise Foe: Legal Immigrants
NY Times - May 2017
ACTION CENTER
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
No and here's why....Earlier this year, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation prohibiting State law enforcement from certain investigatory procedures that might indicate whether someone is of undocumented status. Unless repealed this November, CB 63-2020 will implement these same restrictions at the county level, thus preventing Howard County Police Department from inquiring about immigration status.
First, make a donation to help support the campaign. It is critical the Repeal effort has the financial resources it needs to pay for ads, signs, and get-out-the-vote operations so we can vote down Question A.
Second, make sure you and everyone you know votes NO on Question A this November.