Frederick, MD – Community leaders and elected officials from the Maryland General Assembly are condemning April McClain Delaney’s Laken Riley vote and calling her out for her blatant lack of accountability in an open letter addressed to her office.
The Washington Hispanic is reporting this week former delegate and first Latina to be elected to the Maryland Assembly, Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, Latino Caucus leader Delegate Ashanti Martinez, and Delegate Gabe Moreno have cosigned a letter condemning McClain Delaney’s vote on the Laken Riley Act and her MAGA voting record. This comes nearly 24 hours before reports of Trump’s ICE runs rampant in Baltimore, detaining immigrants in front of children.
McClain Delaney was the only Maryland Democrat to vote for the Laken Riley Act, expanding ICE’s ability to detain unlawful immigrants without conviction for crimes as minor as shoplifting. She also voted to make domestic violence survivors vulnerable to deportation for reporting their abusers, and supported a resolution thanking ICE for “protecting the Homeland” while agents terrorized immigrant communities across the country.
Delegate Gabe Moreno told the Washington Hispanic:
“Había que ver lo que venía. Con el regreso de Donald Trump a la Casa Blanca, sabíamos que las políticas migratorias se volverían más agresivas y que teníamos que estar preparados”, afirmó Moreno. “Por eso resultó tan decepcionante ver a una representante demócrata apoyar una legislación de este tipo”.
Translated:
“You had to see what was coming. With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, we knew that immigration policies would become more aggressive and that we had to be prepared,” Moreno stated. “That’s why it was so disappointing to see a Democratic representative support legislation of this kind.”
The pushback comes amid growing tensions over immigration enforcement, including a recent incident in which two people were violently restrained and arrested at a public school in Baltimore in plain view of children.
“While April McClain Delaney continues to defend herself for what she calls a ‘common sense vote’, ICE continues its merciless raids across the country, separating families and deporting our friends and neighbors,” said Communications Director Gaby Krevat. “McClain Delaney votes with Trump and MAGA 22% of the time and immigration advocates and state leaders are pushing back. Enough is enough.”