MARYLAND - Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking records related to alleged dangerous and inhumane conditions inside ICE hold rooms at the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to compel ICE and DHS to comply with an administrative subpoena issued by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General as part of an investigation into whether the agency engaged in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations involving people detained at the facility.
"The conditions inside the Baltimore holding cells have been dangerous, inhumane, and unlawful — and ICE and DHS have done everything in their power to keep us from finding out just how bad they are. The agencies have stonewalled our investigation while people in their custody are denied critical medical care and forced to sleep in cold cement cells and live in their own excrement," Brown said. "We're taking ICE and DHS to court to expose the full scope and impact of their lawless behavior."
Gov. Wes Moore also called the allegations troubling and urged federal cooperation with the investigation.
"The allegations surrounding the conditions at the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore are deeply disturbing and merit full investigative cooperation. We cannot stand by as ICE and the federal government continue to lack transparency and dodge accountability for their cruel and unlawful immigration enforcement actions," Moore said. "In Maryland, we uphold the Constitution. We recognize our solemn obligation to promote public safety and defend civil rights, and we will pursue justice to protect our people."
According to the attorney general's office, its Civil Rights Division and Federal Accountability Unit began monitoring conditions in the hold rooms during the summer of 2025 after reviewing viral video, detainee declarations filed in court and media reports about visits by members of Congress.
The office opened a formal investigation in late January 2026 into whether ICE has engaged in a pattern of civil rights violations. Allegations include overcrowding, detention beyond legal limits, denial of medical care, lack of food and water, unsanitary conditions and limited access to legal counsel.
Declarations filed in a related class action lawsuit describe as many as 40 to 50 people held inside rooms measuring about 15 feet by 15 feet. According to those filings, detainees sometimes slept sitting up without bedding in rooms kept extremely cold.
Back in October, Easton pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal told CoastTV News he was taken to the Baltimore ICE Field Office at the George H. Fallon Federal Building before being transferred to the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana.
"We were there for three and a half days," Fuentes Espinal said. "It wasn't the best place with the best conditions, but we had to go through that process. During those three nights we spent there, we slept on the concrete floor without sheets, just a simple aluminum blanket that they give out."
A federal court reviewing the case on March 6 wrote that individuals detained in the Baltimore hold rooms are "routinely held there overnight and in excess of 12 hours" and often for more than 72 hours in conditions that likely violate the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Declarations in the case also describe detainees who said they were denied sanitary products and forced to remain in unsanitary conditions for several days. Another detainee with leukemia said in a declaration they were denied cancer medication for two days until a friend brought it to the facility.
A whistleblower who worked at the Baltimore ICE field office said blankets were "covered in feces, lice, urine, and throw up," and claimed menstruating women were not provided hygiene products.
According to the attorney general's office, the hold rooms were designed for short-term detention of no more than 12 hours and do not have showers, on-site medical staff or private bathrooms, instead providing a single open toilet per room.
The facility has held more than 120 people in a single day, more than double its stated capacity of 56, according to the attorney general's office. The office also cited a February 2025 internal memo from an ICE deputy field office director warning that the lack of medical staff "could potentially lead to liability issues or, in the worst-case scenario, fatalities."
Brown's office issued an administrative subpoena to DHS and ICE on Jan. 30 requesting records related to detention conditions, detainee demographics and the legal basis for detentions.
According to the lawsuit, ICE denied the subpoena Feb. 25, arguing the request was overly broad and burdensome and raised privacy concerns. The attorney general’s office said the agency later indicated it would need until April 6 to determine whether any information could be released.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, argues the refusal violates the Administrative Procedure Act and asks the court to order DHS and ICE to produce the requested documents.
The attorney general's office is asking people who have information about conditions in ICE detention facilities in Maryland to email Immigration.Detention@oag.maryland.gov.