Montgomery County unveils ICE reporting portal 

Residents will be able to report officers breaking county immigration laws, officials say 

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July 9, 2026 4:25 p.m.

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Montgomery County officials unveiled a new portal Wednesday that allows the public to share information about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) activities in the county. 

County Executive Marc Elrich (D) and County Council President Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) announced the new portal in a media briefing on Wednesday. 

“The ICE reporting portal is an easy access website that allows our community to share information about ICE activity within the county,” Elrich said. “The more residents know, the harder it is to intimidate them.”  

This is the latest in a series of moves by county officials regarding ICE’s presence in the county. 

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In March, the council voted to pass the County Values Act, which is modeled after the Maryland Values Act passed last year by the Maryland General Assembly. In late April, the council unanimously passed the Unmask ICE Act, which bans law enforcement officers from wearing masks while on duty in the county. Both acts have been signed into law by Elrich. 

When the County Values Act was first introduced by Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5), it did not require the creation of the online portal. That provision came in the form of an amendment from Councilmember Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3) during the committee review process.  

Katz, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said he got the idea for the amendment from New Jersey, which launched a similar online portal where residents can report harmful conduct by federal immigration agents.   

Officials said in the media briefing that reports submitted to the portal are for county tracking only, and it is not a way to get emergency help or an individual response to a case. 

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“I want to emphasize that the idea is for the community [to report] when they see ICE agents wearing a mask or when they see them in parking lots or in public property,” Fani-González said during the media briefing, “which is now not legal based on the bills that we passed.”  

County officials said they will report what comes in to the public, but they are not fully sure exactly how or when they will report the information.  

Earl Stoddard, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, said that the reports will not be responded to immediately, but rather they will go into “a SharePoint file that is reviewed by staff” as they come in. 

When asked during the media briefing what good this portal will do for the Montgomery County community, Fani-González said that “data is power” in protecting county residents from ICE.  

“[ICE] is going to come [to Montgomery County] no matter what, …whether we had this portal or not,” she said. “I think it helps us to be ready to confront situations that might increase, not just here, but nationwide.” 

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Bethesda Today reporter Ceoli Jacoby contributed to this story. 

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine