(WBFF) — Protestors calling abolish to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its involvement in Maryland, gathered in downtown Baltimore Monday evening.
Andrew Mayton, an organizer with the People’s Power Assembly, said they also wanted to put pressure on Maryland lawmakers to end local and state cooperation with ICE, including 287(g) programs. Local cooperation with ICE will likely be up for debate in the 2026 legislative session.
ALSO READ | Two hospitalized in ICE-involved shooting in Glen Burnie, authorities say
“We consider that our duty to be out here, speak up against what’s happening and put pressure on lawmakers,” Mayton said. “Stop collaborating with ICE, abolish the agency all together, put the money toward something good.”
The protest is a direct response to the ICE involved shooting that happened on December 24th in Glen Burnie.
“Its a travesty, it put the community in danger,” Mayton said. “All they had on the people they were after is that they were suspected of being illegal immigrants.”
“It’s sloppy law enforcement. People that support law enforcement should be ashamed of the kind of actions that ICE are doing,” he added.
The shooting occurred around 10:51 a.m. in the 500 block of West Court. ICE officials said officers were conducting an targeted immigration enforcement operation. They said officers approached a vehicle and instructed the driver, who they identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, to turn off the engine. They said the driver then tried to ram his vehicle into other ICE vehicles and is accused of driving his vehicle at ICE officers. Immigration officials said ICE agents fired their weapons in response, shooting Sousa-Martins. They said he is expected to recover.
Officials said Sousa-Martins was in the country illegally from Portugal, and is accused of violating the terms of his admission when when his visa expired in February 2009. The vehicle’s passenger was identified as Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, according to ICE officials.
As of Monday evening, Immigration officials have not responded to emails with additional questions about the incident and the individuals involved, and Anne Arundel County Police, an agency tasked with part of the investigation, have also not released any updates about the investigation.
While many details are unclear, some law enforcement officials also agree the shooting should have never happened.
“The Glen Burnie shooting should have had a very different outcome in that it should never have happened in the first place,” said retired Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, a spokesperson for the National Police Association. “ICE agents legally approached the van with these two illegal aliens in the van and lawfully asked them to get out. Instead, these people panicked and then allegedly tried to harm the agents stop the agents with that vehicle. That’s an assault. The agents acted properly, from the set of facts that we know.”
“Any cooperation with federal law enforcement when it comes to illegal immigration makes it safer for everyone involved,” she added.
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