Prince George's County Council Proposes Emergency Bills to Restrict ICE

Prince George’s County Council announced three emergency bills on Tuesday to regulate Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence and activity in the county, council chair Krystal Oriadha said during the meeting. The measures aim to restrict ICE access to county facilities, increase transparency about agent identities, and create new police verification guidelines that would take effect immediately if passed as emergency legislation.

Oriadha framed the package as urgent public-safety legislation, saying these measures were “in response to a public emergency.” Oriadha added, “Unlawful ICE activity poses serious threats to the community and includes the potential for kidnapping or human trafficking.” District 3 council member Eric Olson, a co-sponsor, told attendees, “We need to make sure that our residents are safe in the county, and that we do everything we can to ensure that all of our residents are respected and valued.”

Two of the bills were described by name and by provision at the same meeting. The Community Safe Spaces Act “would prohibit ICE enforcement on county property and facilities,” listing public parks, parking lots, garages, vacant lots and “any other county-authorized building” as examples of covered locations. The act also would “prohibit ICE from entering non-public areas of county facilities without a judicial warrant,” and, as an emergency measure, would take effect immediately upon passage.

The Resident Kidnapping Protection Act would let residents contact the Prince George’s County Police Department to “verify the identity and authority of people engaging in immigration enforcement activity.” Under the proposal, responding officers “would be required to request identification, including an agent’s name, badge number and warrant,” setting a formal verification procedure for on-scene encounters with immigration agents.

Council leaders and the public received the bills against a backdrop of organized protest activity: a photograph circulated with the coverage showed participants marching with banners opposing ICE enforcement in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2026, photographed by Mallory Domio. The council announcement and the accompanying materials list three emergency bills in total, but officials provided substantive text for only the two measures named above; the third bill’s title and provisions were not described at the Tuesday meeting.

Nearby Baltimore County moved in a related but distinct direction on Feb. 17, 2026, when its council passed Bill 14-26 as an emergency measure banning the establishment or operation of ICE detention centers and amending zoning rules to prohibit private detention centers and related permits. Baltimore County Councilman Julian Jones backed that vote, saying, “We don’t want them here.” When asked whether the county had confirmation that ICE planned to build a detention center, Jones responded, “That is true, again, I don’t want to wait for the barb wire to decide to act.” The council recorded the motion that “14-26 is hereby declared an emergency measure and will take effect on the date of the enactment, which is today.”

Key gaps remain from the Prince George’s announcement: the meeting was identified only as occurring “on Tuesday” with no calendar date provided; the full texts of all three introduced bills have not been released; county legal analysis on federal preemption and enforcement mechanics was not presented; and no response from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been included. The council announced an urgent package of local restrictions and verification rules, what additional details should county leaders release at the next public meeting to clarify how the Community Safe Spaces Act and the Resident Kidnapping Protection Act would work in practice?