Did ICE violate judge's order for Baltimore ICE holding rooms? Judge to decide

It's been six months since a Baltimore federal judge issued an order setting standards for ICE holding rooms downtown. Now, she's considering whether her order was violated.

In March, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ordered that detainees in the holding rooms have at least 31 square feet of personal space. The rooms must also be cleaned at least once a day, and detainees must receive a medical screening within 12 hours of entering, among other requirements.

The order stems from a lawsuit filed two years ago on behalf of two women who contend they were subjected to inhumane conditions while detained in the holding rooms.

ICE operates five holding rooms in the George H. Fallon Building.

The alleged violations

Lawyers representing the women told the court Thursday that they believe Rubin's order has been violated dozens of times since it was issued.

The lawyers, including attorneys with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, the National Immigration Project and Crowell & Moring, argued that additional measures are needed to ensure ICE complies with the order.

They said overcrowding could lead to other problems.

"If they're overcrowding, there is sometimes not enough hygiene materials, sleeping mats," said Amelia Dagen, a senior attorney at the Amica Center.

The detainees' lawyers relied on an analysis by Graeme Blair, a University of California, Los Angeles, political science professor and co-director of the Deportation Data Project.

Blair reviewed the holding rooms' logs and found 78 days between March 7 and June 30 when at least one cell was over capacity.

First-hand accounts from detainees also led the lawyers to raise concerns about medical access and required civil rights disclosures.

Government response

How ICE keeps records at the Baltimore holding rooms was scrutinized during Thursday's hearing, as Department of Justice lawyers pointed to procedures they say are in place at the facility.

DOJ lawyers initially sought to strike Blair's data, arguing the detainees' lawyers had not followed the discovery schedule. Rubin denied that motion early in Thursday's hearing.

DOJ attorney Andrew Abrams led the questioning of Joseph Burki, an ICE official who managed the holding rooms between March and June.

In his testimony, Burki detailed steps ICE took to comply with the preliminary injunction, including creating a new standard operating procedure. That included additional training for medical evaluations and ensuring the order's requirements were implemented within 60 days.

He also testified about how ICE keeps track of people in the holding rooms, how movement within the rooms is recorded and what happens when a room approaches capacity.

Burki said an email is sent to field crews instructing them not to bring additional people to the holding rooms when they approach capacity.

But while the logs show when someone enters and leaves the holding rooms, there is no official record showing exactly when someone is in a particular cell.

Whiteboards posted outside the rooms show how many people are being detained in each room at a given time, but those numbers are not recorded elsewhere.

Rubin and the detainees' lawyers questioned the reliability of that system.

DOJ attorney Brendan Moore argued the court should also consider the procedures ICE has put in place and Burki's testimony about how they are being used.

"There must be a separation of what records say and what's happening on the ground," Moore said.

Rubin ended the hearing without making a decision. She said she would make one "expeditiously."