The defeat of Donald Trump last November allowed many of us to sigh a breath of relief, as we saw a light at the end of his racist, xenophobic, bigoted tunnel. The cruelty the Trump administration inflicted upon immigrant communities is a stain on America that those of us with compassion for other human beings never want to see again.
Unfortunately, there are folks here in Howard County who wish to see Trump’s handiwork continue. Enter Lisa Kim and her petition seeking a ballot referendum on CB-63, a law passed last year designating Howard County as what is known colloquially as a sanctuary county. District 2 Councilman Opel Jones introduced the legislation; it passed 4-1 (with Republican District 5 Councilman David Yungmann the lone “no” vote), and County Executive Calvin Ball, who ousted Republican incumbent Allan Kittleman in 2018, signed it into law.
Lisa Kim, as some may remember, was a candidate for the County Council in District 4 in 2018. She was trounced by Deb Jung at the polls, and after such an embarrassing loss, she posted to Facebook a sore-loser screed full of thinly-veiled racism and QAnon-like references to mind control, closing with “TRUMP 2020!!” She has been seen very rarely on social media since then, save for a rant posted to a Maple Lawn Facebook group insisting that systemic racism does not exist and the United States is not a racist country.
A whole lotta “wow” there. 
… okay.
Ms. Kim established a ballot committee for this petition, hired an out-of-state consulting firm to help with gathering signatures, and solicited donations. According to her website, the larger goal is to repeal CB-63 on the basis that it “threatens public safety,” with “these criminal aliens” that “engage in further criminal activity.” Aside from the fact that this is Willie Horton-like racist fear-mongering with no basis in fact, people throughout the county have reported that the people gathering signatures in shopping center parking lots are misleading people into signing. Preying on the assumption that many people, focused as they are on the pandemic, didn’t realize that CB-63 was signed into law last year, they have approached people with the question of “do you support sanctuary status?” and encouraging anyone responding “yes” to sign, based on the technically-correct fact that the petition is to get CB-63 on the ballot. Anyone who didn’t realize that CB-63 is already established law could be misled by this. (Note: if this did happen to you, please email the Board of Elections to report it and ask for your signature to be removed. Contact guy.mickley@maryland.gov, Director of the County Board of Elections.)
This month, the ballot committee filed its first campaign finance report, which was full of interesting data. Amazingly, during a pandemic that has decimated the economy, they were able to raise $60,000 in a single month to support this hateful effort. Some of the notable big donors were ousted former County Executive Allan Kittleman ($5,000), ousted former Maryland Senator Gail Bates ($4,000), and District 5 Councilman David Yungmann ($3,000). Additionally, they received $5,000 from George Doetsch III, the chairman of Apple Ford, whose website, interestingly enough, markets directly to Spanish-speaking immigrants with its “Hablamos Español” and “Aceptamos Tax ID” phrases clearly stated. (Tax ID is an IRS tax processing number for immigrants, regardless of status.)
The irony here, of course, is that this anti-sanctuary group has received such large sums from two elected officials who were voted out of office in 2018 and the sole elected official who voted “no” on CB-63 – while claiming on the front page of their website that their motivation is to “let citizens decide.” However, it would appear to me that Howard County citizens have already decided, as they voted both Allan Kittleman and former District 1 Councilman Jon Weinstein out of office after they helped kill sanctuary bill CB-9 in 2017, and the Council members who were subsequently voted into office by the citizens of Howard County voted to pass CB-63 4-1.
In other words, it appears that Ms. Kim, with considerable financial support from local Republican movers and shakers, is attempting to subvert the will of the people in order to preserve their agenda of hate and cruelty.
How Trumpian.