By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Maryland Democrats conducted a surprise visit to George H. Fallon Federal Building that holds the Baltimore Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Facility on March 9.
Congressional representatives for Maryland, some who have been to the building before in response to concerns, carried out the inspection of the facility and then reported back to local officials, including Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) and Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen (D). Like previous requests for access to the facility, the latest visit was conducted in response to public uproar regarding inadequate conditions reported in recent months.
The poor conditions began to draw attention on Jan. 27 after a leaked video of the facility was posted to social media. Many detainees, laying on the floor, are shown using emergency blankets. The video came during a time where the city was under a state of emergency due to the snow, ice and freezing temperatures experienced at the time. In the footage, dozens of detained men can be seen crammed into one room.
Legislators say the conditions are still deplorable.
“I am disgusted by what I just saw,” said U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.-4), upon exiting the building on March 9. “I’ve been practicing law for 40 years and I’ve been in jails as a prosecutor and as a defense lawyer. I’ve interviewed witnesses and clients in jails, and I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Legislators described the state of the facility.
“Concrete floors, concrete benches, the room that was supposed to hold 70 people had one toilet and a right next to it,” said Ivey.
Ivey likened the conditions of the site to that of slave quarters.
“I just got back from Montgomery and Selma for Bloody Sunday,” said Ivey. “Part of what we did while we were down there was tour old slave quarters, and I have got to say, they look pretty much like what we just saw upstairs. In fact, they might’ve been a little bit better than what we just saw upstairs.”
Of the many leaders present, only U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Ivey, U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-7), U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.-2) and U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), were allowed into the facility. In the past, even they have been denied entry. This time, they were allowed in, but the detainees were gone.
Still, they say what they saw was troubling.
“This facility is unfit even to house animals,” said Alsobrooks. “These conditions are inhumane, cruel and consistent with the desires of this administration who have no interest whatsoever in making the lives of Americans better.”
On March 6, Judge Julie R. Rubin ordered the Baltimore ICE facility to limit total detainees to 55 at any given time. Previously, around 225 people could be housed in its five rooms. Legislators commended the judge for this decision.
Mfume said he believes ICE enforcement could be coming to Baltimore City, emphasizing the work they are doing to ensure Baltimore is prepared to fight it.
“I think they’re getting ready for a surge and just won’t seem to admit it,” said U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-7). “But, we’re getting ready to deal with the surge and we are admitting it. Everything I’ve seen says that things are getting worse with ICE, not better.”
The AFRO reached out to the Baltimore ICE Field Office, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
State and local leaders joined the legislators after their tour. Together, they spoke to the media and outlined city and state efforts to protect immigrants and the community at large from invasive ICE activity.
Baltimore City Councilman Paris Gray (D-District 8) highlighted this matter as a civil rights emergency.
“We have unmarked cars, masked agents, people being detained illegally detention centers holding people inhumanely,” said Gray. “Baltimore City will not allow its staff, data, our resources or our facilities to be used as instruments of discrimination against anyone.”
Alsobrooks and other legislators stressed that, contrary to the 47th president’s administration and ICE supporters, these operations target not the “worst of the worst,” but mothers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles with no criminal record.
According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) Immigration, 73.6 percent of people held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction based on recent data up to Feb. 7. TRAC is a data research and distribution organization, founded in 1989.
Mayor Scott pressed that Baltimore will remain to be a welcoming city.
“I want– to our immigrant neighbors–for you to remember that we will always have your back,” said Scott. “We will not turn our backs on you.”
Under this promise, the Baltimore City Council is taking action to further protect immigrants and Baltimore city residents via a slate of bills.
Council President Zeke Cohen (D) introduced a bill on the afternoon of March 9 seeking to prohibit privately-operated detention centers from opening and operating in Baltimore.
“Baltimore cannot control what Washington does, but we can control what happens within our own city,” said Cohen in a statement. “This legislation ensures that no private detention facility will be built on Baltimore soil to warehouse our neighbors. When the federal government abandons its responsibility to govern with humanity, local leaders have to get creative — and that means using every tool at our disposal to limit the reach of cruelty into our communities.”
The “Baltimore City Policies and Procedures – Safe Spaces and Communities” is also a part of the slate of bills. It will be heard in committee on March 10. If passed, it would require city agencies to create plans that will put a cap on immigration enforcement in private areas of City-owned offices, schools, parks, libraries and other public buildings.