*Due to the local nature of this petition, please only sign if you are a resident of Howard County, MD.*

Dear Howard County Council Members and County Executive Allan Kittleman,

The signatories of this petition request that you support Council Bill 9 to make Howard County a Sanctuary County and a safe community for all of our residents.

The signatories of this petition also request that you consider additional measures to protect the religious affiliation of residents in this community.

President- Elect Trump’s statements calling for the creation of a Muslim registry and the wholesale deportation of undocumented immigrants deeply worry many people in Howard County and throughout our nation. As you know, Howard County has a very diverse population -- racially, culturally, economically, and in many other ways – and this diversity is greatly valued by many residents.  The signatories of this petition fervently support and hope to continue the caring, diverse community that has proven to be a significant asset to our County’s growth and civility.

In the past, Howard County has worked to end discrimination and create a safe community for people of all backgrounds. Other Maryland counties, including Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, have already taken action to protect their residents by becoming Sanctuary Counties. We want Howard County to follow this lead and support the security of all of our residents by also becoming a Sanctuary County through County Bill 9.

County Bill 9 is “AN ACT providing that certain individuals shall take, or refrain from taking, specified actions with respect to the immigration status of specified individuals; prohibiting certain discrimination based on citizenship status; requiring that certain information related to citizenship status be kept confidential; providing a procedure whenever specified provisions may be preempted by other law; requiring specified officials to take actions under certain circumstances; and generally relating to human rights in Howard County.”  (County Bill 9 Proposed by Calvin Ball and Jennifer Terrassa)

View full version below.

https://apps.howardcountymd.gov/olis/LegislationDetail.aspx?LegislationID=2738

In addition to County Bill 9, signatories of this petition also feel that Howard County cannot be considered a Sanctuary County unless religious affiliation of residents are also protected. Therefore, we use this to bring the following claims to the attention of the County Council and County Executive in the hope that they will take immediate action to enact these as law:

Whereas the President-elect and his supporters have increased threats against people of certain religions and citizenship status, and

Whereas this information is not needed to provide services to students or residents in Howard County,

The religious affiliation of individual persons shall be immediately deleted from any and all county databases;

The religious affiliation of any individual person shall not be collected in the future by the Howard County School System, Howard County Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, any Howard County Department or Agency, any employee of Howard County government, or any entity contracting with Howard County government.

Furthermore, county funds will not be used to enforce, aid, or offset federal efforts to obtain demographic information related to the religious affiliation of any individual person.

Census data on religious affiliation may be taken only if the information is not linked to any individual person.

Signatories

*Please comment on the county district or representative of your residence if you know that information.*

District 1: Jon Weinstein

District 2: Dr. Calvin Ball

District 3: Jen Terrasa

District 4: Mary Kay Sigaty

District 5: Greg Fox