Immigrant groups in Maryland file lawsuit against "warrantless" ICE arrests
Several immigrant rights groups in Maryland have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in an effort to block "warrantless immigration arrests" in the state.
The lawsuit includes We Are CASA, the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, the ACLU of Maryland and the National Immigration Project. The groups held a news conference and rally on Thursday in Baltimore to announce details about the case, which was filed Wednesday night in federal district court for the district of Maryland.
The case, Guzman v. D.H.S., challenges policies implemented by DHS through its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, We Are Casa said Thursday in a statement. ICE adheres to a policy of "arrest first, ask questions later," in violation of the Fourth Amendment and federal statutes, the lawsuit argues.
Speaking at Thursday's rally, We Are CASA's Legal Director Shana Khader said, "Since January of 2025, ICE has violently snatched from our streets and communities over 5,000 of our neighbors. Over the past 21 months, plainclothes, masked, armed, unidentified and untrained federal agents have terrorized Maryland communities."
Across the state, those agents "have stalked primarily brown and Black neighborhoods, arresting those they perceive to be brown or Black immigrants without warrants and without probable cause," Khader said. She claimed that 92% of the ICE arrests have been of people from Latin American or Caribbean countries.
Members of the crowd at the rally could be heard changing "What do we want? Due process. When do we want it? Now."
"The complaint details aggressive tactics, including unmarked vehicles tailing work trucks, violent stops where agents box in vehicles and smash windows, and arrests of everyone in the vicinity regardless of the intended target," said the We Are Casa statement.
We Are Casa noted that the latest filing follows another legal effort by the same groups that resulted in a court victory in December 2025. The case, Escobar Molina v. D.H.S., prohibited warrantless arrests without probable cause in Washington, D.C. The number of warrantless arrests in D.C. has since dropped sharply, yet they continue in Maryland, the groups said.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day as We Are Casa announced that a man shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Maryland last December was released from custody after spending nearly nine months in detention.
The man, 30-year-old Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, is an undocumented immigrant from Portugal.
Following the release, We Are Casa said in a statement, "After more than eight months of detention, a federal district court judge ordered Tiago Alexandre Sousa Martins' release from ICE custody. Today, he has been released and is finally home with his family."
Sousa-Martins issued his own statement, which thanked We Are CASA for their efforts to help secure his release.
"They stepped in when I needed it most, not only supporting me through my own ordeal but also standing by my family every step of the way," he said, adding, "Today, I can finally say I am free. It was a long and difficult battle, but I'm here to tell you that it is possible. Please, don't ever lose hope. Don't give up."