A Black ICE official got a mouthful after members of Congress were denied entry to a facility where undocumented Maryland residents are being detained under the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, and U.S. Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Glenn Ivey, Johnny Olzewski Jr., and Sarah Elfreth—all Democrats representing the state of Maryland—entered the George H. Fallon federal building in Baltimore on Monday to conduct an oversight visit. The lawmakers said they were touring the site amid accusations of detainees being subjected to inhumane conditions.
However, the Democratic lawmakers were denied entry and told by Nikita Baker, acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Baltimore Field Office, that ICE policy had changed, which she described as “operational tempo,” according to a video of the encounter captured by CBS News.
Unsatisfied with Baker’s explanation, Congressman Mfume, the senior member of the powerful House Oversight Committee, evoked the history of the enslavement of African Americans amid criticisms of the Trump administration’s treatment of immigrants as part of a mass deportation operation.
Mfume told the director, “I’m old enough to remember when Black people were snatched off the streets in this country–not because they committed a crime or suspected of anything. And that was not that long ago.” He continued, “That sort of spirit haunts your soul. That’s a perspective that haunts many of us. It certainly haunts me.”
The Maryland congressman appealed to Baker personally in perhaps an attempt to move Baker on a moral level–or simply shame her.
“I would hope as a Black woman coming out and telling us what you did without any real explanation, I hope later today that that sort of spirit haunts your soul and that you realize that that is more important than a job.”
The Democratic lawmakers were ultimately not allowed inside to tour the facility despite their repeated attempts and participated in a sit-in. A spokesperson for ICE claimed the members of Congress were blocked from entering the facility because they arrived without advanced notice and out of concern for the safety of workers and those detained.
At a later press conference, Mfume told reporters that ICE denying the Democratic lawmakers entry for oversight goes against a public law that determines that members of Congress have “jurisdictional oversight over all ICE facilities.” He called the treatment an “insult” and ignoring of their congressional authority a “stain on our democracy.”
Democrats sought to tour the Baltimore ICE facility after two Maryland women previously detained filed a federal class-action suit against the government, accusing the facility of failing to meet “basic human needs” and violating its own standards. A judge suspended the women’s deportations.
The clash in Baltimore is similar to other incidents involving Democrats seeking to exercise their congressional oversight authority over complaints of inhumane treatment of detained immigrants. A dispute between federal agents and Democrats in New Jersey in May resulted in the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka–whose charges were eventually dropped–and, weeks later, the indictment of Congresswoman LaMonica McIver.
The Trump administration, which is engulfed in a bevy of lawsuits over its immigration enforcement, has been accused of violating due process laws, among other alleged constitutional violations, to detain and deport as many immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as possible. The White House has set a goal of deporting at least 1 million people by the end of the year.
At Monday’s press conference, Senator Alsobrooks called out Trump personally and emphasized why she believed she and Democrats had every right to tour the ICE facility.
“This is a federal building. It’s owned by us. This is not Donald Trump’s building. This building belongs to Marylanders and it belongs to Americans,” said Maryland’s first Black female U.S. senator.
“This administration is really ruling by fear and there’s so much shame,” she added. “The shame that our country will carry as a result of this conduct and so many other things will last for generations.”
