ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today announced the Immigrant Affairs Taskforce has submitted its official recommendations and final “Immigrant Affairs Task Force Report” for the proposed creation of an Office of Immigrant Affairs within Howard County Government.
Our immigrant community shows up every day, contributing to our local and state economy and bringing a valuable perspective that enriches our community. With nearly 23 percent of our residents who are foreign born, Howard County is home to a diverse and inclusive community of different backgrounds, cultures, and stories. I created the Immigrant Affairs Taskforce to provide a framework to create a permanent Office of Immigrant Affairs. I want to thank the Taskforce for their diligent work for the past six months to develop these thoughtful recommendations.
Reflecting the work of the Task Force, the recommendations in this 26-page final report outline a proposed structure, staffing, and placement, as wells as programmatic recommendations across five different areas to create a robust Office of Immigrant Affairs. The goal of the Office would be to address the multi-faceted needs facing the county’s immigrant communities and to serve as a resource coordinator to help connect constituents to available services, determine where to go for assistance, and move seamlessly through multiple service systems.
The Task Force made the following key recommendations pertaining to the proposed structure, staffing, and placement of an Office of Immigrant Affairs:
- In Fiscal Year 2028, the County should budget four positions to stand up an Office of Immigrant Affairs;
- Two of these four positions should be reserved for an Administrator and Administrative Support Position.
- The County should explore how contingent staff, fellows, interns can support the functions of the Office of Immigrant Affairs
- An Office of Immigrant of Affairs should be placed in the Department of County Administration and be part of the County Executive’s Cabinet; and
- The Office of Immigrant Affairs staff should have varied skills and background in order to respond to the diverse needs of Howard County’s immigrant communities.
Additionally, the report also offers 35 comprehensive recommendations in the following five areas:
- Education and Outreach Opportunities;
- Safety and Stability;
- Government, Health, Social Services, and Language Access;
- Workforce Development and Economic Mobility; and
- Financial Empowerment and Consumer Protection.
Education and Outreach Opportunities
The Office of Immigrant Affairs should coordinate culturally appropriate opportunities across government, schools, nonprofits, businesses, and faith institutions. The report recommends establishing a centralized case management system for education institutions with access extended to a student’s entire family. Moreover, the Office would coordinate with education institutions to create pathways for school counselors and other staff to connect a student or family with the Office of Immigrant Affairs. The Office’s role would be to strengthen interagency coordination to provide meaningful support to immigrants and their families.
Additionally, the report recommends the Office work with well-established community commissions, such as La Alianza Latina and the Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission, and existing non-profits, such as Luminus Network and CASA to strengthen their mission.
The report emphasizes prioritizing digital multilingual outreach to broaden its reach, especially to younger populations who respond better to short, social media/mobile friendly messages.
Safety and Stability
Increasing community trust and public safety engagement for the immigrant community remains a top concern. The report recommends the Office of Immigrant Affairs maintain a public directory and referral chart for residents to find specialized help for various immigrant issues.
Moreover, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should help residents navigate issues such as understanding the difference between County policy and federal immigration enforcement actions, consumer protection and fraud prevention, and how County agencies handle residents’ personal information in coordination with the County’s Office of Law.
Government, Health, Social Services, and Language Access
The report recommends the Office of Immigrant Affairs coordinate and align existing services across Howard County public agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. The Office of Immigrant Affairs should explore creating a roundtable with community partners to coordinate and align existing services. Additionally, the Office should identify barriers to services and explore potential solutions to the barriers.
The Office of Immigrant Affairs should also analyze service data across the county to identify trends, utilization, and emerging community needs. This can be done through ongoing research on policies and services to assess the efficacy of existing policies and services for the immigrant community.
An important and repeated theme throughout the report is language access. The Office of Immigrant Affairs would inform and assist the County and its partners with legal requirements related to language access. The creation of a Language Access Plan would establish a framework to ensure language access is embedded throughout the County. Furthermore, the Language Access Plan should extend beyond direct translation and account for cultural context and terminology, including specialized interpreters in areas that use technical or industry-specific terminology.
Workforce Development and Economic Mobility
The report recommends developing strong workforce support for the immigrant community through the establishment of a coordinated referral network with the Office of Workforce Development and its community partners. Additionally, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should engage employers throughout the county to align training and career pathways with local labor market needs.
The Office should connect immigrant entrepreneurs and businesses with the Howard County Economic Development Authority and existing economic development resources.
Financial Empowerment and Consumer Protection
Immigrants may be targeted for financial scams due to several factors, including language limitations. To reduce this population’s vulnerability to scams, the Office of Immigrant Affairs should establish outreach programs aimed at increasing awareness amongst immigrant community of resources offered by the Office of Consumer Protection and its Howard County Financial Empowerment Center.
Additionally, the Office should support the creation of a “BankOn Howard” initiative to encourage and establish alternative banking solutions for the immigrant population that may not have standard documentation.
In May, Ball established the Immigrant Affairs Task Force with the signing of Executive Order 2026-10. The Task Force was comprised of representatives from the following offices and entities:
- Department of County Administration
- Office of Human Rights and Equity
- Department of Community Resources and Services
- Howard County Department of Social Services
- Howard County Police Department
- Office of Consumer Protection
- Office of Workforce Development
- Howard Community College
- Howard County Economic Development Authority
- Howard County Public School System
- Columbia Community Care
- Luminus Network for New Americans
- La Alianza Latina Commission
- AAPI Commission
- Interfaith Advisory Commission
- A youth representative under the age of 20
- Howard County employers representing target industries (up to five)