A federal judge in Baltimore is weighing whether to impose additional sanctions on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over allegations of overpacking its downtown holding cells in violation of a court order.
After a nearly five-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin did not deliver a ruling from the bench, saying she had “a lot to consider” after testimony from a senior ICE official and an outside data expert who examined detention records.
The hearing is part of a class-action case filed last year. It is one of multiple legal battles entangling ICE’s Baltimore field office that could have lasting consequences on its local operations.
Rubin ordered ICE in March to restrict capacity inside the five cells of the temporary holding facility and to develop new procedures to ensure the conditions do not violate health and safety standards. She concluded in her written ruling then that the facility “failed to facilitate the medical care or medications of individuals with broken bones, diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, and Leukemia.”
ICE said it temporarily closed the holding room shortly after the ruling to make improvements and develop new standard operating procedures.
On Thursday, attorneys representing the immigrant plaintiffs who had been detained at the downtown Baltimore holding room in May 2025 presented an outside data analysis of ICE detention records for the 116 days following Rubin’s order.
Graeme Blair, a political science professor at UCLA who collects and tracks federal immigration data, testified the Baltimore facility was overcrowded at least 67% of the days during that period.
Attorneys contended there were other violations of the judge’s order when ICE failed to advise immigrants of their rights in a timely manner and did not provide consistent access to medication. They asked the judge to impose additional compliance measures, such as mandating an independent monitor to conduct inspections of the facility.
With their own data analysis from a different outside expert, Justice Department attorneys largely rejected those findings, alleging there were far fewer instances of overcrowding.
However, the author of that report was not available to testify because she was traveling outside the country. Rubin almost didn’t accept the report, citing questions she had about the methodology. And the judge chided the government for choosing an expert it could not make available for testimony.
A senior ICE official also testified that the federal agency has taken multiple steps to comply with Rubin’s order.
Joseph Burki, who oversees transportation and removal efforts for the Baltimore office, told the court part of the challenge is tracking the number of people inside the cells at any given time because the number fluctuates.
He added that field officers are instructed to stop bringing new people they’ve arrested to the holding room when the cells are close to capacity. Although ICE does not have an in-house medical provider at the Baltimore holding facility, it has brought in medical professionals to train its workers to screen people for health issues.
Burki added he is typically on-site in the field office for just a few hours each week and compliance with such procedures typically falls to other supervisors.
The facility at Hopkins Plaza in downtown Baltimore has been at the center of scrutiny since The Banner reported on poor conditions there over a year ago.
As the case drags on, construction of a new processing facility in Elkridge that will replace ICE’s Baltimore field office recently resumed after local opposition tried to halt it.
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