By: Adam Reuter
It was nearly midnight when Tammy Nobles stood before the Baltimore County Council, recounting the horrendous details about her 20-year-old daughter, Kayla Hamilton.
Kayla was autistic. She was young. And she was strangled to death in a trailer in Aberdeen, Maryland by a purported MS-13 gang member who had entered this country illegally as a minor.
“She was left on the floor like trash,” Nobles told the Council. “Where was everybody at when Kayla was being murdered? Where was her protection?”
The response from the dais? Councilman Julian Jones offered his condolences, but there was otherwise silence. And a procedural push to pass Bill 98-25, a piece of legislation they call the “Protections for Non-U.S. Citizens” act.
Let’s call it what it really is: The Criminal Protection Act.
I sat through the five hours of political theater on January 14th so you didn’t have to. What I witnessed wasn’t governance; it was cowardice.
The “Trust” Myth
Councilmen Izzy Patoka and Julian Jones want you to believe that Bill 98-25 builds “trust” with the immigrant community. They claim that if police cooperate with ICE, immigrants won’t report crimes.
But listen to Xylia Vasquez Hall, another mother who testified that night. Her son’s friend was murdered by gang violence. During her remote testimony, she stated, “Compassion and public safety are not opposites.”
She is correct. There is nothing compassionate about letting a violent offender slip through the cracks because a local cop is legally forbidden from picking up the phone to call federal authorities. That doesn’t build trust. It builds a sanctuary for predators.
Handcuffing the Police
During the hearing, a retired police sergeant, Anthony Johns, laid it out in stark terms. He warned that if this bill passes, sex offenders and violent criminals—people he personally arrested in places like Owings Mills—could be released back into our neighborhoods instead of being deported.
He didn’t just warn them; he practically begged the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) to sue the county if this legislation goes through.
Think about that. Our own law enforcement experts are telling the Council: “This is dangerous. This will get people killed.” And the Council’s response is to worry about being politically correct.
The Lie About Procedure
The most embarrassing moment of the night came from the Council’s own confusion. Councilman Jones insisted that Baltimore County Police “don’t do immigration enforcement” anyway.
Yet, a Public Defender testified that the current police field manual requires officers to cooperate with ICE. So, which is it? Is Jones lying or is he just incompetent?
If the police are already cooperating and the sky hasn’t fallen, why do we need a new law to stop them? The answer is simple: This isn’t about policy. It’s about Patoka and Jones trying to secure a voting bloc for the next election, even if they have to step over the bodies of victims like Kayla Hamilton to do it.
The Cost of “Compassion”
When Tim Fazenbaker, a candidate for the newly created 9th Council District took the mic, he was angry. He called Councilman Patoka a “traitor” after refusing to say Kayla Hamilton’s name. Chairman Ertel had Fazenbaker back away from the microphone.
They can kick a man off the public testimony seat, but they can’t kick the truth out of the room. The fact is that Bill 98-25 prioritizes the comfort of those who broke the law over the safety of the citizens who follow it.
If this bill passes, Baltimore County puts out a welcome mat for the very gangs that killed Kayla Hamilton. When the next tragedy happens—and it will—Patoka, Jones, and Ertel won’t be able to plead ignorance. They were warned. We all were.
Rejects this bill. Protect our families. Say her name.
