WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Representatives Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Glenn Ivey, Sarah Elfreth, April McClain Delaney, and Johnny Olszewski (all D-MD) wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons regarding their serious concerns with inhumane conditions and reported violations of legal rights that individuals face while in custody in the Baltimore ICE Field Office’s holding rooms.
“As members of Maryland’s Congressional Delegation, we are deeply concerned with reported conditions at ICE’s Baltimore Field Office located at 31 Hopkins Plaza in Baltimore, Maryland. A recent video depicted dozens of individuals confined in a small holding room without adequate sleeping accommodations, sanitation facilities, or sufficient space,” the lawmakers began. “The conditions revealed in the video are deeply disturbing and necessitate more information as to how the field office and agency are enforcing our immigration laws safely and humanely.”
“These conditions are part of a pattern of disturbing reports of prolonged detainment, overcrowding, and inhumane conditions at ICE’s Baltimore Field Office. To make matters worse, our constituents have also reported that detainees are routinely denied due process and access to counsel, family visitation, and medical care,” they wrote.
The lawmakers also noted ICE’s continued obstruction of lawful Congressional oversight – citing previous attempts to view the holding rooms that have been met with refusals, postponements, and procedural roadblocks based on questionable legal reasons which have twice been blocked by a federal courts.
“In addition to ICE’s initial refusal to permit the members’ July 28, 2025, inspection, more recent requests have been postponed or denied, further limiting oversight access to the field office and its holding rooms. As our courts have made clear, this is an unacceptable obstruction of Congress’ oversight role. As billions of dollars in taxpayer funding fuels ICE’s operations, we have a duty to our constituents to conduct oversight around the use of these funds. These most recent reports further necessitate continued congressional oversight,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers added that questions previously raised and submitted to Baltimore field office and ICE headquarters employees following the aforementioned oversight visit last summer went unaddressed. They pressed the Trump Administration officials to respond to those along with several new questions regarding the treatment of detainees held at the field office.
“We would also alert you to ICE’s lack of responsiveness to repeated outreach by our legislative and constituent services staff at the agency-level, as well as the Baltimore Field Office. Staff requests for information, clarification, and engagement have reportedly gone unanswered or unresolved. This lack of communication constitutes blatant obstruction of our congressional oversight role, and hinders our ability to respond to our constituent Maryland families seeking assistance,” they stressed.
“For that reason, we are enclosing a list of questions our delegation submitted to ICE on August 27, 2025 following the oversight visit by Senator Van Hollen and Alsobrooks and Representatives Mfume and Elfreth on August 13, 2025. To date we have not received answers to these questions regarding ICE’s policies and practices for providing food and nutrition to detainees, access to showers and hygiene supplies, family visitation policies, and a process for filing and investigating concerns regarding detention and facility conditions,” they wrote, going on to outline the series of questions for the Administration officials’ response, including on current conditions in the facility.
Text of the letter can be viewed here.
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