Protesters call on ICE to leave Maryland after shooting involving immigration officers
Standing on a street corner in Downtown Baltimore Monday, a group of protesters pushed for the removal of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in all of Maryland.
The People's Power Assembly (PPA) organized the protest in direct response to the ICE officer shooting that happened in Glen Burnie on Christmas Eve. In that incident, ICE maintains its officers only acted in self-defense.
While one of the protesters' goal was to raise awareness of ICE's activity locally, PPA organizers told WJZ they want to pressure state leaders to act.
Calling for an end to ICE enforcement
Protesters gathered on the corner of Hopkins Place and Baltimore Street, which is near where the ICE Baltimore Field Office, holding signs and calling for ICE to be abolished.
They chanted, "ICE out of Baltimore! ICE out of Maryland!"
"All they had on the [people involved in Glen Burnie] was they were suspected of being [undocumented] immigrants. We reject that," said PPA organizer Andrew Mayton.
In a statement, ICE said officers shot Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins -- who the agency says is an undocumented Portuguese immigrant -- when Sousa-Martins tried to ram other vehicles and the officers.
ICE said the officers first tried to get him to turn off the engine, which he refused to do. Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquival, who ICE has identified as a Salvadoran undocumented immigrant, was in the passenger seat with Sousa-Martins.
PPA organizers hopes Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and other state lawmakers move to ban cooperation agreements some counties have with ICE, as well as 287(g) agreements.
287(g) agreements are where ICE gives local law enforcement the authority to perform some immigration officer enforcement duties.
A bill to ban 287(g) agreements failed to reach Gov. Moore's desk in the 2025 legislative session, but several lawmakers have expressed interest in introducing another similar bill in the upcoming session.
"ICE is its own department, there is no other kinds of collaborative efforts similar to this. All it does is put communities in danger," Mayton said.
WJZ reached out to ICE for any updates to the investigation into the Christmas Eve shooting, but didn't hear back. ICE issued a statement on the day of the shooting that called on "extremist rhetoric" against the agency to stop.
"The incident, which is still under investigation, comes as the extremist anti-ICE rhetoric and outright lies of politicians, the news media, activists, and violent agitators continue to fuel a more than 1,150% increase in assaults against ICE officers," the agency said.
Sousa-Martins and Serrano-Esquival were taken to area hospitals and, at last check, are stable.
Local ICE activity
The Christmas Eve shooting is one of the latest local showings of President Trump's ramped up immigration enforcement.
Another recent case making headlines is the detainment of 22-year-old Dulce Consuelo Morales Diaz. She was taken into ICE custody when she was on her way home from a Taco Bell in Baltimore, despite saying she's a U.S. citizen.
Her lawyer, Victoria Slatton, has gone viral for her TikToks about Morales Diaz. She posted a TikTok Sunday reporting Morales Diaz has been transported to a third detention facility. She'd previously been detained in Louisiana and Texas.
Slatton has said she has Morales Diaz's birth certificate, immunization records, and other documentation proving her client's U.S. citizenship. The government has maintained Morales Diaz is an undocumented immigrant, and that she claimed to be a Mexican citizen to border patrol when she was at the Arizona-Mexico border in 2023.