Judge hears clash over ICE conditions in Baltimore detention facility
By Kate Amara
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — Plaintiffs in a legal case against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allege the agency has failed to comply with a court order issued in March to address overcrowding in Baltimore holding rooms.
The government denied the allegations and called a witness to support its position.
Joseph Burki, the former manager of the Baltimore holding rooms, testified that after the injunction was issued, he rewrote the facility’s policy to comply with court-ordered capacity rules.
The new policy required each cell to provide 31 square feet of space per person after carving out an 8-foot toilet zone. Burki added that the new policy required routine head counts and the closure of any cell nearing capacity.
When asked by WBAL-TV 11 News outside of the courthouse about the agency’s failure to follow the policies he wrote, Burki declined to answer.
Plaintiffs argued that while the policy looked good on paper, it was not implemented effectively.
“There is this very large and seemingly … happening on the ground,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Amelia Dagen.
The plaintiffs called an expert witness who testified that his analysis of cell log records from March to June showed overcrowding occurred 67% of the time.
The defense countered, claiming the plaintiffs’ math was intentionally flawed. They presented their own expert analysis, which found overcrowding occurred only 9% of the time. However, the defense said their calculation was based on the total space in all cells divided by the total number of people in the facility on a given day, without accounting for the toilet exclusion zone.
The plaintiffs are not seeking a contempt finding but told the judge they want measures in place to enforce the court order.
The judge said she will issue a written ruling.
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