BALTIMORE — A DC- and Baltimore-based immigrant rights group says it has firsthand accounts of poor conditions, overcrowding and long holding times at the George Fallon Building in downtown Baltimore, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds detainees.
"We have come to learn over the last couple of weeks, of examples of people being held at the Fallon building at the ice holding cell in Baltimore for way longer than 12 hours. 12 hours is the limit," said Eric Lopez, deputy program director with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.
Lopez, who works with the group in Baltimore, told WMAR there are examples of people sleeping on the floor, not provided with blankets and being overcrowded in single rooms. They are not provided the access to showers or adequate access to food, he said in a Friday interview.
"These are inhumane conditions," he said. "This is not how immigrants or anyone should be treated. And this is a good moment, I think, to recall that immigration detention is a civil system. This isn't criminal detention."
Lopez explained people ICE arrest in Maryland are processed at the building to later be transferred away. But he said his organization has heard examples of detainees being held anywhere from three to nine days.
An ICE spokesperson sent WMAR a statement which said the organization is committed to fair, safe and humane enforcement of immigration laws, and that it is 'not subject to the standards outlined in the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.'
The full statement reads as follows:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement remains committed to enforcing immigration laws fairly, safely, and humanely, and ensures that holding facility operate in full compliance with federal laws, agency policies, and established standards to uphold the well-being and dignity of those in our custody. ICE Baltimore operates a holding room, not a detention facility, and therefore is not subject to the standards outlined in the 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards.
“Additionally, medical staff from the ICE Health Service Corps are on-site to provide necessary medical care. In the event of a medical emergency, detainees are promptly transported to nearby hospitals to receive immediate and appropriate care. ICE remains dedicated to transparency and accountability in our operations.”
The allegations prompted a protest outside the George Fallon federal building on the sidewalk of the Lombard Street side. Demonstrators gathered around midday Friday, prepared with speakers and signs.
"You are tearing apart families, you are tearing apart communities, and behind those walls, you are treating humans worse than animals," Franca Muller Paz, a member of the Baltimore Teachers Union, said through a microphone.
Muller Paz, a former city council candidate and current teacher, said ICE activity has caused unease within her Baltimore school community.
“These are decisions that human beings are making, to treat other people this way. And it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, we all deserve to be treated with dignity," Muller Paz told reporters.
Lopez, meantime, said his group has "come into direct contact with at least over a dozen individuals who have shared their accounts of being held at the Baltimore field office for extended periods of time," and said accounts of ICE facility overcrowding have been chronicled nationally.
WMAR asked ICE for clarification on how long exactly a detainee can be held at its Baltimore holding room.
"It would be helpful to know what authority, what policies," Lopez added, "is ICE actually relying on to be able to justify the prolonged detention of immigrants under the conditions that they are doing so at the Baltimore field office."
ICE Baltimore field office faces allegations of long hold times, poor conditions
