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High taxes causing Marylanders to move? Not so fast. | READER COMMENTARY

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High taxes causing Marylanders to move? Not so fast. | READER COMMENTARY


The recent commentary by Stephen J.K. Walters tried to establish a causal migration relationship between states that have higher taxes and those that have lower taxes (“Flight happens: Don’t play Robin Hood, Maryland,” Feb. 16).

He claimed that higher taxes were the reason for migration from Maryland, yet he cited no poll of individual’s reasons for actually leaving the state. We should not forget one of the earliest lessons in statistics class: Correlation is not necessarily causation. I don’t see Maryland’s wealthy packing up and moving to Wyoming, South Dakota or Montana, where instead of surrounding their waterfront mansions with yachts and golf courses, they could afford to build much larger mansions surrounded by cows, sheep and buffalo.

If you want to be near the action, Maryland is pretty cheap for the East Coast when compared to New York, the District of Columbia or Philadelphia.

— Doug Goodin, Baltimore

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Maryland

Maryland aging slightly faster than U.S. as a whole, new Census numbers show – WTOP News

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Maryland aging slightly faster than U.S. as a whole, new Census numbers show – WTOP News


Some of the fastest aging is occurring in central Maryland counties.

This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.

America is aging, but Maryland is aging faster.

Those are the findings of new Census numbers that show the number of Marylanders age 65 and older grew by 3.35% from 2023 to 2024, while the number of those under age 18 fell by 0.06%. Nationally, the increase of older adults was 3.1% while those under 18 shrank by 0.10%.

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The state’s population overall rose by more than 45,000 last year, the most since 2015. While the one-year numbers are relatively small, analysts say they continue recent trends: The country’s median age and the population’s share of older adults are both continuously increasing.

“Children still outnumber older adults in the United States, despite a decline in births this decade,” Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch, said in a statement. “However, the gap is narrowing as baby boomers continue to age into their retirement years.”

The number of states where those over age 65 now outnumber children has grown from just three in 2020 to 11 in 2024, though Maryland is not yet one of those states.

While the state’s 6.2 million residents overall are aging slightly faster than the rest of the U.S., some of the fastest aging is occurring in central Maryland counties, while some of the rural counties are seeing their populations age differently.

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In Western Maryland counties like Allegany and Washington, for example, or Somerset and Talbot counties on the Eastern Shore, the 65-and-over population rose less than 2% year to year. And the median age fell or stayed the same in all four counties.

Among counties with rising median ages, Howard County saw the largest increase, going from 39.9 years in 2023 to 40.3 in 2024, according to the Census data.

Jie Chen, director of the University of Maryland, College Park’s Center on Aging, said the aging disparity between rural and urban areas stems from differences in resources. Most communities that can work to make themselves age-friendly tend to be in urban areas, she said.

“The rural areas usually have worse access to health care, housing and transportation,” Chen said. The lack of rural hospitals can lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment for older residents, she said.

She said communities are aging primarily due to advancing technology and the state’s improving economy.

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“People live happier and longer,” said Chen, also the chair of the university’s Health Policy and Management department. “It’s not a bad thing.”

But, Chen added, the declining birthrate among young people has led to the state’s disproportionate ratio of older and younger residents. She attributed that decrease in birthrate to cultural shifts and reluctance to start a family given the high cost of living.

Chen said there is plenty of room for improvement in how resources are allocated for aging residents, especially in the health care system, to ensure aging residents can live happily and healthily “without sacrificing anyone else’s benefits.”

Benjamin Orr, president of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy, said the trend is nothing surprising.

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“The United States as a whole, our population is getting older,” Orr said. “Maryland’s population is no exception.”

Orr said the goal is for the state to have a healthy “working age” and under-18 population, but the state doesn’t need “explosive growth” in those groups.

An aging population can lead to slower economic growth, he said, and shifting government spending priorities as the state covers increasing health care and Medicare costs.

“We also know that people who are still in the workforce typically pay more taxes,” Orr said. “So an aging population can put further strain on government budgets, not just because they may need more services, but also because they may be paying” less payroll taxes or not spending as much.

Orr added that Maryland is already doing many of the right things to attract working age adults and young families, such as a higher minimum wage and good public schools.

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The Census data also showed a continuing shift in Maryland’s racial demographics over the last five years.

Since 2020, the state’s Hispanic population has increased by almost 14%, while its Black and Asian populations saw more moderate increases. The number of non-Hispanic white residents shrank by more than 100,000 people, while the state’s Hispanic population last year alone grew by about 30,000 people.

In an interview with Maryland Matters, Bowers said the trend in Maryland also mirrors the rest of the country. Since 2020, the U.S. Hispanic population has increased by just more than 6 million people, she said.



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Maryland lawmakers call President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” a betrayal

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Maryland lawmakers call President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” a betrayal


Maryland Democratic lawmakers expressed disappointment after President Donald Trump’s budget bill passed Congress.

The so-called “big, beautiful bill” is expected to be signed into law by the president on Friday, July 4.

The Maryland Freedom Caucus, headed by Republican Congressman Andy Harris, said the bill “secured transformational wins for fiscal responsibility, border security, energy independence, welfare reform, and tax relief.”

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What’s included in the “big, beautiful bill?”

Mr. Trump’s budget bill was approved in a 218 to 214 vote by the House, and a 51-50 vote in the Senate, which required Vice President JD Vance to be the tiebreaker.

The bill, when signed, would make significant cuts to healthcare and nutrition programs, like Medicaid and SNAP. According to CBS News, the bill would add $3.4 trillion to federal deficits over the next 10 years and leave millions without health insurance. 

The legislation includes more than $46.5 billion for border wall construction and related expenses, $45 billion to expand detention capacity for immigrants in custody, and about $30 billion in funding for hiring, training, and other resources for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CBS News reports.

The package also includes an increase to the cap on the state and local tax deduction, raising it from $10,000 to $40,000, according to CBS News. After five years, it would return to $10,000, a departure from the initial House-passed bill.    

CBS News says the bill would raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, going beyond the $4 trillion outlined in the initial House-passed bill. 

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And, the current $2,000 child tax credit is set to return to the pre-2017 level of $1,000 in 2026, according to CBS News, and the tax credit would permanently increase to $2,200 under the bill, $300 less than the initial House-passed hike. 

Maryland lawmakers react to the passed budget bill

Democrats in Congress voted unanimously against the bill, citing steep cuts to safety net programs, including SNAP, the food assistance program, and Medicaid.

Maryland lawmakers argue that the bill provides for the rich and takes away from those who need the assistance.

“This so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ marks a direct and heartless assault on the American people,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. “Neither Maryland nor any other state across the country has the resources to fill the massive hole that the federal government created today in our social safety net.”

Gov. Moore called the bill a nightmare for Maryland families, saying it impacts healthcare for senior citizens, student loan borrowers, those relying on food assistance, and people with disabilities.

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“President Trump and Republicans in Congress are cutting a quarter of a billion dollars from Maryland’s rural hospitals, taking health care away from nearly 200,000 Marylanders, and hurting 684,000 Marylanders that rely on food assistance to pay for their groceries—working families, seniors, children, veterans, homeless individuals and people with disabilities. Today, our federal government has delivered a gift to the ultra-wealthy and told everyone else: ‘You’re on your own,’” Gov. Moore said.

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott called the bill a “bad policy” and a “betrayal.” 

“Every member of Congress who voted for this should be ashamed. Baltimore won’t forget,” Scott said.

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The mayor said the legislation threatens jobs, healthcare access, and public safety, and makes it easier to purchase guns.

“For cities like Baltimore, the impact will be devastating,” Scott said.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticized Republicans in Congress for backing Mr. Trump over the U.S. citizens, and called it “tax breaks for billionaires.” 

“A giant handout for the ultra-rich. A big, ugly betrayal for everyone else,” Van Hollen said.

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Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks added that it is a “dark day for America.”

“Republicans have slashed health care for Americans with disabilities, taken food from the mouths of hungry children, and left our seniors to fend for themselves.”    

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Trump Frees Felon to Keep Deported Maryland Dad Locked Up

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Trump Frees Felon to Keep Deported Maryland Dad Locked Up


The Trump administration has freed a convicted human smuggler in its desperate bid to convict Kilmar Abrego Garcia of the same charge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Abrego Garcia in March—a move the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted was an error—before a federal judge forced the administration to return him. Abrego Garcia was placed in federal custody on a human smuggling charge as soon as he set foot on U.S. soil again.

Despite President Donald Trump’s pledge to focus mass deportation efforts on criminals—the “worst of the worst”—the DOJ has now released three-time felon Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes from federal prison and transferred him to a halfway house in exchange for his testimony against Abrego Garcia, an undocumented father from Maryland.

“It’s wild to me,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, told the Washington Post. “It’s just further evidence of how the government is using Kilmar’s case to further their propaganda and prove their political point.”

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The White House has released a man convicted of human smuggling in exchange for his testimony at Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s trial on the same charges. Family/Reuters

In exchange for testifying against Abrego Garcia, prosecutors have reportedly promised Hernandez he will be permitted to stay in the U.S. for at least a year. ICE officials, meanwhile, have said Abrego Garcia will be deported again in the event he is convicted at trial.

The Trump administration flew Abrego Garcia to a notorious El Salvadoran prison in March as a result of what the DOJ described as an administrative error; an immigration judge previously ruled that it was not safe for Abrego Garcia to be deported to his home country.

In a move denounced by critics as an attempt to save face over the gaffe, officials returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. earlier this month and then charged him with smuggling, based partly on Hernandez’s testimony.

Abrego Garcia, 29, has not been convicted of a crime in the United States, where he has resided since he was 16. He has denied involvement with the notorious MS-13 street gang, which the White House maintains he is a member of.

He has pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges, which stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where he was allegedly driving a van full of other undocumented migrants. Charges in that case were not filed until May—well after Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint in Trump’s migrant crackdown—and were unsealed upon Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. this month.

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WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES - JUNE 27: United States President Donald Trump speaks at the White House Press Briefing room in Washington DC., United States on June 27, 2025. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Trump administration indicted Abrego Garcia after illegally deporting him to El Salvador earlier in month as the result of a clerical error. Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images

Hernandez, now the DOJ’s star witness in its case against the Maryland father of three, who is married to an American, has had many more run-ins with U.S. law enforcement. He served time for three separate federal offenses: smuggling migrants, illegally reentering the country, and drunkenly discharging a firearm in a residential neighborhood.

He has been either arrested or in prison every year for the past decade, per the Post’s report. His record dates back to at least 2015, when he was fined for public intoxication in Virginia. A year later, Texas police arrested him for alleged possession of cocaine, and in 2017, he was picked up for driving under the influence with a handgun in the car.

Following his first removal in February 2018, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested him again after he had waded into the country from across the Rio Grande. He entered a guilty plea for crossing illegally and served 30 days before being deported again in May of that year.

Hernandez resurfaced in Mississippi the following December, when officers pulled him over to discover several undocumented migrants in his vehicle. He later admitted he had been transporting people into the country at $350 a head, pleaded guilty to human smuggling, and in 2020 was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA - JUNE 26: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delivers remarks before signing a memorandum of understanding on a joint security program agreement with Guatemala Minister of Governance Francisco Jimenez at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura on June 26, 2025 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Noem is completing her trip across several Central American countries today where she has met with political leaders and heard about immigration programs and facilities supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with a focus on U.S. security cooperation initiatives in the region. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s department says it will deport Abrego Garcia again if he is convicted at trial. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The latest incident took place in late 2022. Texas police arrested Hernandez, who appeared “highly intoxicated” at the time, after he was seen riding around a Montgomery County community firing a handgun from the passenger side of the vehicle in broad daylight, for which he received two years in prison.

ICE has further clarified that it does not plan to return the Maryland dad to his native El Salvador but rather to an unspecified “third country.” Under Trump’s nationwide deportation drive, a number of Latin American migrants have already found themselves removed to South Sudan, an East African nation ravaged by more than two years of civil war.

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A federal judge allowed Abrego Garcia to be released on his own recognizance ahead of his smuggling trial. However, his lawyers begged to keep him in custody ahead of trial, as ICE signaled it would arrest and deport him as soon as he stepped free.

The DOJ accepted Abrego Garcia’s request to remain behind bars. His next hearing is scheduled for July 16.



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