Several high-ranking Maryland officials were turned away Monday from the George H. Fallon Federal Building in downtown Baltimore after requesting to tour a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility that’s facing mounting allegations of inhumane treatment of detainees.
Maryland Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olzewski Jr. and Sarah Elfreth were denied access to the facility during a scheduled visit on Monday. The lawmakers say they sought the tour following alarming reports and a federal class-action lawsuit filed against ICE for allegedly detaining immigrants in conditions that violate federal policy and basic human decency.
“We were not allowed entry, so we had to stand outside, bang on the door, and ultimately sit in front of the door,” Mfume said during a press conference after the failed visit. “Finally, a director came out and explained to us that she had been given direction not to allow anyone, member of the House, Senate or anyone into the facility.”
Mfume, who serves as a senior member of the House Oversight Committee, called the denial a direct violation of federal law that authorizes members of Congress to inspect such facilities.
“This does not bode well here in Baltimore or anywhere if members of the United States Congress, who are duly authorized to come in and to inspect, visit or walk through a federal facility, are not allowed in,” Mfume added.
The Baltimore ICE holding facility is now the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the Amica Center and the National Immigration Project on behalf of two Maryland women whose deportations had been suspended by a judge. The women allege they were held in small, windowless rooms for 60 and 48 hours, respectively — far longer than the 12-hour maximum outlined in ICE’s own policies. The suit contends that ICE fails to meet basic human needs, with detainees often denied food, water, and critical medications.
Advocates have also spoken out. In March, CASA and the Amica Center held a rally demanding accountability.
One father who attended shared that his daughter was detained in the facility for several days.
“They are forced to endure meals of insufficient food, barely any water, and most appallingly, people like my daughter are being denied their vital medications they need for their health and wellbeing,” he explained.
Van Hollen and Alsobrooks sent a letter in April to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, expressing concern over prolonged detentions, unsanitary conditions, lack of medical staff, and overcrowded holding cells lacking beds.
They cited first-hand accounts from staffers who had toured the building earlier that month.
ICE maintains that the Baltimore location is a holding room, not a detention center, and therefore is not subject to the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.
“ICE remains dedicated to transparency and accountability in our operations,” the agency said in a statement. “In the event of a medical emergency, detainees are promptly transported to nearby hospitals.”
However, this is not the only time ICE has faced scrutiny over the treatment of detainees. Similar incidents have occurred in New Jersey and Florida. In New Jersey, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano called for a state investigation after whistleblower complaints alleged detainees were deprived of showers, legal access, and medical attention at the Elizabeth Detention Center. In Florida, advocates have sounded the alarm over the Baker County Detention Center, where reports of medical neglect, poor sanitation, and the use of solitary confinement have prompted civil rights groups to demand closure.
“ICE’s detention crisis is of its own making, and instead of releasing people they don’t have the capacity to detain, they are systematically caging people for many days in cruel, unconstitutional, and life-threatening conditions that even their own policies prohibit,” Adina Appelbaum, program director for the Immigration Impact Lab at Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said in an earlier release.
Alsobrooks took to X, formerly known as Twitter, emphasizing the harm in what happened at the ICE facility on Monday.
“The fear we are all feeling will pass,” she wrote, “but the shame that our country will carry as a result of this conduct will last generations.”