Hi John, it’s April. Yesterday, I visited the ICE detention facility in Baltimore and what I saw was shocking. This visit did not happen overnight. For months, my office has been demanding access to this facility after receiving alarming reports from attorneys, advocates, and families about conditions inside. I formally requested this visit as part of my constitutional duty to conduct oversight, but ICE granted entry only after repeated pressure and rescheduling.

You may have seen the video circulating online showing people packed into holding rooms, wrapped in foil blankets, with little access to food, water, medical care, or legal counsel. ICE officially refused to confirm whether that video was the Baltimore detention facility but when I pressed them for answers, the agents we met with confirmed it was.

This facility is supposed to be a short-term holding site, with a rule limiting detention to 12 hours. That rule has been waived and people are now routinely kept far longer than intended, in conditions that are not designed for extended detention.

There is no medical screening process. Families are asked to bring medications, but many are afraid to do so out of fear that they will also be detained.

In holding rooms that can contain up to 70 people, there is a single toilet and one shared phone. Detainees sleep on thin foam mats with no pillows and Mylar blankets. We did not see showers. People inside the cells were signaling to us that they were hungry and needed food.

These conditions are not acceptable. I will never stop searching for the truth and fighting for transparency and accountability, no matter what.

If you believe this oversight work matters, add your name to demand transparency, humane treatment, and real accountability from ICE.

This is about values and who we are, and that begins with protecting our neighbors. I will continue to press for answers and share what we learn. Thank you for standing with me and for caring about what happens when power is exercised without restraint.

In solidarity,

April McClain Delaney