Baltimore immigrant mothers demand removal of ankle monitors after ICE detention

Multiple immigrant mothers detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore earlier this year are fighting to have their ankle monitors removed, saying the devices have made it harder to find work and have led to discrimination.

The mothers, who formed a group called Las Madres Unidas en la Lucha, went to the George H. Fallon Federal Building on Tuesday with letters asking officials to close the Baltimore immigration holding cell and remove their ankle monitors.

Immigration officials did not accept the letters, according to the group.

A rally was held outside the federal building in support of the women.

Las Madres Unidas en la Lucha were among about 40 women detained by immigration agents in March. The women said they were held in a small room without adequate space to sleep or proper hygiene products.

They also allege that when lawmakers visited Baltimore to investigate conditions at the holding cell, some of them were transferred to facilities across the country shortly before the visit.

"We think it's really lamentable, and we feel sad that they didn't accept the letters," one of the mothers said. "In the letters, we're asking them to please take off the ankle monitors because it's been 90 days that we've had them already, and we suffer social discrimination with them on."

According to advocates, the women were detained for two days in March after arriving for required check-ins with ICE. The mothers told WJZ they do not have criminal records.

Organizers of Tuesday's rally said the women were released from ICE detention after a judge granted their habeas corpus petitions, meaning the government was required to justify their continued detention.

Organizers also said many of the women were not deported because they have active asylum cases and are awaiting hearings and do not have removal orders.

WJZ reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for an explanation as to why the letters were not accepted but has not received a response.

The dispute comes as federal immigration enforcement in Maryland and Virginia has intensified.

DHS announced Monday that an enhanced ICE operation in Virginia and Maryland resulted in the arrests of 1,328 people it described as "illegal alien offenders" between Aug. 1 and Aug. 14. The agency said nearly 400 of those arrested had either been convicted or charged with crimes in the United States.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he was concerned about how DHS conducted the immigration enforcement operation.

"Deploying untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable agents to sweep through our communities and spread fear is not a public safety strategy," Moore said in a statement. "It undermines trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, and it does not make us safer."

Moore added that he has "neither patience nor tolerance for violent criminals."

"When federal law enforcement takes violent offenders off our streets and lawfully removes them from our country, that makes our communities safer," Moore said. "Maryland will continue working with our federal partners to do exactly that."