Maryland AG Brown sues ICE, DHS over subpoena for records on Baltimore hold rooms

MARYLAND (WBFF) — Maryland’s attorney general has taken the federal government to court, seeking records about what he described as “dangerous, inhumane, and unlawful” conditions in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding rooms in downtown Baltimore.

Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed a federal lawsuit today against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), asking a judge to force the agencies to comply with an administrative subpoena for records tied to reported conditions in ICE “hold rooms” at the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore. The lawsuit stems from a joint investigation by the Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division and Federal Accountability Unit into whether ICE has engaged in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations against people detained at the Baltimore 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,” Brown said. “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,” he said. “We’re taking ICE and DHS to court to expose the full scope and impact of their lawless behavior.”

Gov. Wes Moore also criticized the reported conditions and called for 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,” Moore said. “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,” he 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.”

The attorney general’s office said it has been monitoring conditions in the hold cells since summer of 2025. After reviewing viral video from inside the hold cells, declarations from detainees in litigation, and media reports of visits by members of Congress, the office concluded conditions had worsened and opened an investigation in late January 2026.

The investigation is focused on whether ICE has engaged in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations, including overcrowding, extended detention beyond legal limits, denial of medical care, denial of food and water, failure to provide sanitary conditions, and denial of access to legal counsel.

Declarations filed in a related class action lawsuit describe as many as 40 to 50 people crowded into a room measuring 15 feet by 15 feet, with detainees sleeping sitting up without bedding in rooms kept extremely cold. A federal court reviewing that case found on March 6, 2026, 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.

Among the allegations cited: one account described an individual wearing an adult diaper who was not provided sanitary products after being taken into ICE custody and was forced to live in their own excrement for five days. Another described a detainee with leukemia who was denied cancer medication for two days until a friend was able to bring the medication to the facility. The attorney general’s office also cited a whistleblower who worked at the Baltimore ICE field office and described blankets “covered in feces, lice, urine, and throw up,” and said the field office failed to provide menstruating women with hygiene products.

The hold rooms are designed for short-term confinement of no longer than 12 hours and have no showers, no on-site medical staff, and only a single open toilet per room, according to the attorney general’s office. Despite that, ICE has detained individuals there for days or weeks at a time. The Baltimore facility has held more than 120 individuals in a single day, which the attorney general’s office said is more than 200% of its stated maximum capacity of 56.

The attorney general’s office also cited a February 2025 internal memo from ICE’s deputy field office director warning that the lack of medical staff “could potentially lead to liability issues or, in the worst-case scenario, fatalities.”

On Jan. 30, 2026, the attorney general’s office issued an administrative subpoena to DHS and ICE seeking records about conditions in the hold rooms, detainee demographics, and the legal basis for individual detentions. ICE denied the subpoena in full on Feb. 25, offering objections that the requests were overly broad, unduly burdensome, and implicated privacy protections, the attorney general’s office said. After a follow-up letter from the attorney general’s office, ICE indicated it would need until April 6 to determine whether it could share any information.

The lawsuit, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, alleges ICE’s refusal to comply violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it was contrary to law and/or arbitrary and capricious, or, in the alternative, unreasonably delayed. The suit asks the court to order DHS and ICE to produce the subpoenaed documents or provide other appropriate relief.

The attorney general’s office said Brown is authorized under Maryland law to investigate potential civil rights violations and take action when federal conduct threatens the health and welfare of Maryland residents. The office also pointed to ICE plans to expand immigration detention in Maryland, including a plan to convert a commercial warehouse in Washington County into a 1,500-person detention facility by May 2026. The attorney general’s office said it has filed a separate lawsuit over that plan, calling it unlawful.

The Office of the Attorney General is asking people with information about conditions in ICE detention facilities in Maryland to email Immigration.Detention@oag.maryland.gov.