Immigration advocates ask judge to halt inhumane practices at Baltimore ICE facility
The Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and the National Immigration Project have asked a judge to halt inhumane practices at a Baltimore Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Last month, a judge ruled that two women living in Maryland who were detained by ICE will remain in the United States after a judge's ruling in federal court to suspend their deportation.
The ruling was the result of a class action lawsuit filed by the Amica Center and the National Immigration Project on behalf of the two women, whose attorneys said were living in Maryland lawfully.
Attorneys say facility conditions are "inhumane"
The attorneys said that ICE was illegally holding the two women and that they were subjected to inhumane conditions. The women were being held in holding rooms at the George Fallon Federal Building downtown before being moved to other facilities in New Jersey and Denver, Colorado, the attorneys said.
Immigrant advocacy organizations and state leaders have said that conditions inside the Baltimore federal building are of concern.
In March, community members rallied outside the building where detainees were being held.
Staffers for U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks (both D-Md.) also visited the ICE holding facility in downtown Baltimore in March.
After their visit, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, addressing reports about the conditions detainees have experienced in the holding rooms at the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the Baltimore Field Office.
The letter included concerns about the duration that detainees were being held, the proportion of detainees to room size, lack of medical staff on site, and the absence of a food service contract.
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