Maryland sues ICE to force records from Baltimore facility

Attorney general takes ICE to court

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown filed a federal lawsuit on March 10 to force ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to hand over records about conditions inside hold rooms at Baltimore’s George H. Fallon Federal Building.

Brown’s Civil Rights Division and Federal Accountability Unit are jointly investigating whether ICE committed a pattern of civil rights violations at the facility.

Brown said the agencies blocked the investigation at every step. The suit landed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

ICE rejected the subpoena outright

The attorney general’s office sent an administrative subpoena on Jan. 30 seeking records on hold room conditions, who was being detained, and the legal basis for those detentions.

ICE rejected it entirely on Feb. 25, calling the requests too broad, too burdensome, and a privacy concern. After a follow-up letter, ICE said it would need until April 6 to decide whether it could share anything.

Brown’s office says Maryland law gives it authority to investigate when federal actions threaten residents’ health and welfare.

Investigators tracked worsening conditions since the summer

Brown’s office started monitoring conditions at the Fallon Building in the summer of 2025.

After reviewing viral video from inside the hold cells, sworn statements from detainees, and reports from congressional visits, officials concluded things had gotten worse. They opened a formal investigation in late January 2026.

The probe covers alleged overcrowding, detention past legal time limits, denial of medical care, denial of food and water, unsanitary conditions, and blocked access to lawyers.

Detainees describe severe overcrowding and neglect

Court filings in a related class action paint a grim picture. Declarations describe 40 to 50 people packed into a room measuring 15 feet by 15 feet.

Detainees reportedly slept sitting up with no bedding in freezing rooms.

One person wearing an adult diaper went without sanitary products and sat in their own waste for five days. A detainee with leukemia went two days without cancer medication until a friend brought it.

A whistleblower described blankets covered in filth and said menstruating women received no hygiene products.

Hold rooms were built for 12-hour stays

The hold rooms were designed for short stays of no more than 12 hours. They have no showers, no on-site medical staff, and no private bathrooms.

Each room has just a single open toilet. Despite that, ICE held people there for days and sometimes weeks.

The facility held more than 120 people in a single day, more than double its stated maximum of 56.

An ICE deputy field office director warned in a February 2025 internal memo that the lack of medical staff could lead to deaths.

Federal judge already capped the facility

U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin issued a preliminary injunction on March 6, capping the facility at 56 people.

She ordered ICE to provide basic hygiene products, clean the rooms daily, and give detainees a medical screening within 12 hours.

Rubin found that about 95% of detainees between February and mid-October 2025 stayed longer than 12 hours, and about 27% stayed past 72 hours.

More than half were held while the facility already exceeded capacity. The ruling came in a class action that two women from Central America filed in May 2025.

ICE blames lack of detention space

ICE did not deny the overcrowding but blamed a shortage of long-term detention space in Maryland. The state banned local governments from renting jail space to ICE in 2022, which ICE says limited its options.

DHS has said detainees receive food, water, blankets, and hygiene products.

At a hearing before Judge Rubin, Department of Justice attorneys called the allegations selective and distorted. Rubin rejected that argument in a 67-page ruling.

Republican lawmakers criticize the AG

House Minority Leader Jason Buckel accused state Democrats of virtue signaling.

Buckel said Democrats complain about conditions in Baltimore and also complain when detainees go to facilities in other states.

He said the attorney general’s office should focus on public safety instead of fighting the federal government.

Meanwhile, Washington County Commissioners voted unanimously to support ICE and DHS enforcement efforts in their area.

Legionella bacteria found in building water

A separate health concern is also hanging over the Fallon Building.

Maryland’s congressional delegation raised alarm after Legionella bacteria showed up in the building’s water system in November 2025. Even after treatment, lawmakers said the bacteria were still there.

The building also houses a child care facility and offices for the departments of Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Justice. ICE said detainees get bottled water.

The congressional delegation asked the General Services Administration for answers by March 20.

Lawmakers visited and found nobody inside

Maryland’s congressional delegation made an unannounced visit to the facility on March 10, days after the judge’s order. They found no detainees inside.

Nobody told them where the people previously held there had gone.

A DHS spokesperson said the facility is a processing center, not a detention center, and that people move quickly to permanent housing.

Lawmakers described stark conditions, including no beds and a single toilet and a sink shared among dozens. ICE officials did not let them take photographs.

Governor Moore backs the lawsuit

Gov. Wes Moore called the allegations deeply disturbing and said they deserve full cooperation from federal agencies. Moore said Maryland upholds the Constitution and will pursue justice to protect its residents.

The state has taken several related steps, including signing emergency legislation to ban local law enforcement partnerships with ICE under the 287(g) program.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott issued an executive order restricting ICE’s use of city property without a judicial warrant. Howard and Baltimore counties have passed laws banning private detention centers.

AG fights a planned detention center too

Brown filed a separate lawsuit to block a planned 1,500-bed ICE detention center near Hagerstown in Washington County. ICE bought an 825,000-square-foot warehouse in Williamsport on Jan. 16 for about $102 million.

Brown’s lawsuit says ICE skipped the required environmental review.

DHS awarded a contract worth about $113 million to a Pennsylvania firm for renovations, with a possible total value of about $642 million over three years.

Williamsport has about 2,000 residents, so the facility would nearly match the town’s population. Brown filed an emergency motion on March 11 asking a court to pause construction for up to 14 days.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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