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News Story

Maryland lawmakers make surprise visit to Baltimore ICE facility

By Mitchell Miller

Democratic members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, joined by state and local lawmakers, made an unannounced visit Monday to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Baltimore and said they were taken aback by the conditions.

“I am disgusted by what I just saw,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-4th), one of several lawmakers who spoke outside the George H. Fallon Federal Building, after visiting the facility Monday morning.

Ivey, a former prosecutor, noted that he’s been in numerous jails and holding cells due to his work as an attorney over the years but said he could not believe ICE has been holding people in the conditions he saw.

“We adopted two dogs a little while ago and we went to the shelter to go get them,” he said. “And the shelter space is better than the human space they’ve got upstairs.”

ICE has used space in the building to temporarily hold people taken into custody as they begin what can be an unpredictable legal journey related to immigration enforcement.

The lawmakers said many people have had to sleep on concrete floors in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions.

[Legionella found in water system of federal building that houses ICE detainees, others]

Maryland lawmakers visiting the facility included Ivey, U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks; both Democrats, and Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-7th) and Johnny Olszewski (D-2nd). Local leaders from Baltimore also spoke at a news conference after the lawmakers’ visit, including Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City).

Ferguson, in a social media post, said conditions at the facility are “deplorable and must be immediately corrected.”

“Every individual regardless of documentation status is deserving of dignity and due process, two fundamental American values,” his post said.

Judge has ordered changes at the holding facility

The lawmakers visited the facility just days after a federal judge issued a ruling Friday ordering ICE to make several changes.

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ordered that the five holding rooms at the facility must hold no more than 55 people at a time.

Van Hollen said the facility was previously allowed to hold more than 220 people.

Lawmakers said the rooms have concrete benches and a single toilet.

Van Hollen also said he was glad the judge ordered ICE to make sure that detainees get a medical screening within 12 hours of being brought to the facility.

He said that is important, given what has happened nationwide.

“We’ve seen almost 40 people die in ICE custody last year,” he said. “And nine already in these first months of this year.”

In court filings, the Justice Department argued ICE had been meeting federal legal standards for the facility. But the judge rejected the department’s arguments.

Several lawmakers have made repeated visits to the facility, amid ongoing complaints about conditions there.

– As part of Maryland Matters’ content sharing agreement with WTOP, we feature this article from Mitchell Miller. Click here for the WTOP News website.

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