Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin visited people being held in ICE custody at the George H Fallon Federal Building in downtown Baltimore on Thursday, and claimed that 60 people were packed into a room shoulder-to-shoulder, with a single toilet in the room and no shower facilities.
In a post on X, Raskin claimed that there was a room set aside for dangerous criminals and violent offenders but were kept empty. He demanded for immediate answers and action.
"I just exercised my right as a Member of Congress to conduct an unannounced oversight visit of the ICE field facility in Baltimore. The staff I met with respected my right to visit, but what I saw was disgraceful. Kristi Noem has a budget of $75 billion she could use to ensure humane conditions, but we saw 60 men packed into a room shoulder-to-shoulder, 24-hours-a-day, with a single toilet in the room and no shower facilities," the Congressmam said.
"They sleep like sardines with aluminum foil blankets. Whether it’s for three days or seven days, nobody would want a member of their family warehoused there. The room set aside for dangerous criminals and violent offenders was empty. We’re demanding immediate answers and action," he added.
Raskin also called the conditions “staggeringly overcrowded”. He said there were 134 adults and no children at the facility, but upwards of 55 were crammed into holding rooms for days, CBS news reported.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people were packed in there,” Raskin said. “This is an office building. It is not created for these purposes.”
Raskin said he noticed those in custody were given 3 meals per day, but the detainees were sleeping on the floors, did not have access to showers, and there was only 1 toilet in the rooms.
“I would tell the family members that their family members are in an uncomfortable situation,” Raskin said. “They are packed in in a way that no one would want to see their family members. I hope we are going to be able to do better in facilities like this over the country.”
Video from ICE holding room
Last month, a video went viral, showing what it looks like inside an ICE holding room in Baltimore.
The video shows dozens of people packed into 1 of the rooms. Many of them were on the floor.
Officials confirmed to Maryland Congresswoman April McClain Delaney that the video was taken from inside the George H Fallon building.
“This whole detention centre is really only meant to hold people for 12 hours and is being used to hold people for 24, 48, 72 hours or longer, depending on if they asked for habeas corpus, if they have medical conditions, or if the transport planes are full,” Rep. McClain Delaney said earlier this month.
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