Members of the Maryland delegation visiting Baltimore’s ICE Field Office on Wednesday had better success gaining entry to the facility than a couple of weeks ago, but their findings remained grim, and they were not allowed to speak with detainees.
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Reps. Kweisi Mfume and Sarah Elfreth (all D-Maryland) visited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore, taking part in a “guided visit” after being denied access to the agency on July 28, 2025.
The legislators spoke to media after the visit and decried what they saw as the use of the holding facility as a detention center. A holding facility is intended to keep people for 12 hours, so it is not equipped for long-term, overnight stays. Van Hollen told reporters that the average stay at the Baltimore field office is now 72 hours, with reports of some being held for at least eight days. This 72-hour average is even longer than the March 2025 reports from their staffers that prompted the July visit.
“What we are witnessing is a gross abuse of power by a lawless president and his cronies,” Van Hollen said. “I want you to remember that. They said they were going after the worst of the worst. That would be warranted, and that would be totally appropriate if it were true. But it’s not true.”
Van Hollen pointed to ICE’s own data showing that 84% of the state detainees are in a category called a “no threat” level, meaning they pose zero public threat. Citing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen called out the use of the facility to violate people’s constitutional right to due process.
“Today, we were denied the opportunity to talk to any of the detainees,” Van Hollen said. “We have been told that Maryland law, a provision passed by the General Assembly, prohibits us from talking to any of the detainees to actually hear their stories. We have presented them with the Maryland law. … There’s nothing in Maryland law that prohibits a member of Congress from talking to the detainee.”
Elfreth told reporters that they were able to ask questions of the ICE officials and described the discussions during the visit as “very robust.” She noted, however, that while they asked many questions, very few were answered.
“So, some of the questions we asked today are about, do people who are detained here have access to an attorney?” Elfreth said. “Do they have the ability to call and meet with their family members? Do they have access to their medication or hospital needs?”
Noting that the answers were less than satisfactory, Elfreth said they will continue to hold ICE accountable because the people being targeted and detained in many cases have been in the country for years, or even decades.
“They’ve raised families here,” Elfreth said. “They start businesses here. They pastor here. They have children, many of whom are United States citizens here, pay taxes here, and it is our job, because they are our neighbors, because they live in our districts, to conduct this oversight.”
At the end of July, U.S. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Van Hollen, and Reps. Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olszewski Jr., Mfume, and Elfreth (all D-Maryland) conducted an oversight visit to the Baltimore ICE facility but were denied access. The six lawmakers were visiting in their oversight capacity as legislators, following up on a March visit during which Alsobrooks and Van Hollen staffers witnessed overcrowding, no medical care, and inadequate food for detainees.
Additionally, the Baltimore ICE facility is a field office with holding rooms, not intended to hold detainees for longer than 12 hours. During the staffers’ March visit, however, they learned that detainees were held for an average of 36 hours, and sometimes with 54 detainees in holding rooms with no bed space. When the lawmakers attempted to visit in July, the official who turned them away refused to say who ordered them to deny them entry.
Baltimore Fishbowl has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment. The article will be updated if they respond.
In the future, I think it would be best to prevent ICE from ANY activity in Maryland, PERIOD. There’s more than enough crime at 16th and Pennsylvania AVE in Washington, DC. Tell them to set their sights there.