Two immigrant rights organizations have filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) subjected two women detained in Baltimore to conditions that violate both constitutional protections and the agency's own detention policies.
The women, long-time Maryland residents from Guatemala and El Salvador, were detained during routine ICE check-ins and held for multiple days in facilities allegedly not equipped for long-term confinement, the organizations claim.
Filed by the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and the National Immigration Project in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the lawsuit asserts that the women were confined for 48 and 60 hours, respectively, at the George Fallon Federal Building's holding rooms—far exceeding ICE's 12-hour limit for such facilities.
Judge Julie Rubin has temporarily halted their deportation while the case proceeds.
"We are seeing a policy of detain first, think later, when it comes to immigration enforcement, and it's leading to systematic violations of people's rights in the interest of meeting quotas," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director at the National Immigration Project to CBS News. She went on to say that:
"The overcrowding, unlawful detention, and inhumane conditions in the holding cells are just another outcome of that dragnet approach. The courageous women in this case should never have been detained in the first place, and the cruelty and harm they are experiencing must be stopped"
The lawsuit alleges the rooms lacked access to basic necessities including beds, showers, soap, toothpaste, and adequate food. The attorneys added that one woman was denied medication for Type 2 diabetes for over 24 hours and received no treatment for a panic attack she suffered during detention.
A March 2025 visit by staffers for U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks confirmed several of the lawsuit's claims. The senators reported that detainees were held in overcrowded rooms with no medical personnel on-site, no food service contract, and no bed space—only foil blankets and inflatable mattresses. They also noted that average stays exceeded 36 hours, significantly longer than ICE's own standards.
The Amica Center for Immigrant Rights elaborated on the matter in a statement:
"ICE's detention crisis is of its own making, and instead of releasing people they don't have the capacity to detain, they are systematically caging people for many days in cruel, unconstitutional, and life-threatening conditions that even their own policies prohibit. This lawsuit is critical to stopping ICE from one of its most egregious abuses of power"
ICE has maintained that the Baltimore site is a holding room, not a detention facility, and has disputed the claims, as The Baltimore Sun reports. A DHS spokesperson stated that ICE provides medical screenings within 12 hours and ensures access to 24-hour emergency care.
A representative of the Department of Homeland Security disputed these claims, saying in an email to The Sun that ICE provides detainees with medical screenings within 12 hours of arriving at a detention facility, as well as access to 24-hour emergency care.
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