The ongoing lawsuit between immigration advocates and the federal government over an ICE detention center in Baltimore added a new chapter this week, with a new filing alleging “inhumane conditions” for the people detained there.
The filing alleges minimal food, very few mattresses, small holding rooms and little access to medical staff at the George Fallon Federal Building in downtown Baltimore.
Baltimore has designated itself a sanctuary city for immigrants.
The new filing asks the judge in the case to place an injunction on ICE to adhere very closely to its own guidelines.
The ICE facility has been at the center of a battle between the National Immigration Project and Amica Center for Immigration Rights and ICE since the detention of two women were held there earlier this spring.
Both women had lived in Maryland for a substantial amount of time before they were arrested by ICE. A federal judge suspended their deportations in May until the case is decided.
“They are forced to endure meals of insufficient food, barely any water, and most appallingly, people like my daughter are being denied their vital medications they need for their health and wellbeing,” a local member of immigrant nonprofit CASA said at a rally in March.
A decision on the injunction will likely be decided in mid-July.
This comes as Trump has ordered federal immigration officials to focus deportation efforts on Democratic-led cities like Baltimore, following widespread protests in Los Angeles and other urban centers opposing his immigration policies.
In a srecent ocial media post, Trump urged ICE to “do all in their power” to carry out what he called the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
The announcement follows a recent ramp-up in enforcement actions and statements by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who revealed that ICE aims to increase daily arrests to at least 3,000. That’s a dramatic spike compared to the approximately 650 daily arrests ICE carried out during the first five months of Trump’s second term.
