As Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia sits in an El Salvadorian prison camp, other immigrants in the state are caught in the middle of changing politics and policies. This year, Maryland state lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would keep local law enforcement from acting as federal immigration agents. But lawmakers did pass a law that limits access for immigration officers to sensitive areas, like schools and hospitals. Cathryn Jackson, with the immigrant advocacy group CASA, says actions by the administration to end birthright citizenship are flatly unconstitutional.

"The 14th amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, no exceptions. Period. This is not about policy reform. What’s happening is we’re seeing the Trump administration try to rewrite the constitution to exclude certain people. "

The Supreme Court earlier this month heard arguments in a case dealing with efforts to curb birthright citizenship by President Donald Trump. The president has defended his efforts, claiming the 14th amendment was originally meant for children of former slaves, not undocumented immigrants.

Abrego Garcia’s case is not the only one in Maryland. A father of eight in Frederick County was deported, after he went to court for driving on a suspended license, through the local law enforcement program that state lawmakers tried to repeal. Jackson says deportations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are not new to the immigrant community. Their intensity, though, she says, has increased.

"What’s happening in terms of the aggressive way ICE has been targeting individuals, deporting individuals without due process, that unfortunately is something that is very familiar to our community."

According to the American Immigration Council, there are 225-thousand undocumented immigrants in Maryland.