Baltimore City Council Bill Would Limit ICE Access to City Property, Schools

Fourteen of Baltimore's 15 city council members have thrown their support behind legislation that would codify strict limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to city property, requiring schools, libraries, parks, and government buildings to develop plans blocking ICE activity on their grounds without a federal court order.

The bill, titled Baltimore City Policies and Procedures – Safe Spaces and Communities, was introduced by Councilmembers Odette Ramos, Paris Gray, and Mark Parker, with Council President Zeke Cohen as a co-sponsor. It would convert two existing policies into binding city law: a mayoral executive order, updated most recently by Mayor Brandon Scott, that bars ICE from using city property, information, or equipment without a federal court order, and a Baltimore Police Department policy governing officer interactions with immigration enforcement agents. It would also require BPD officers to activate body-worn cameras during any encounter with ICE.

"The core of the bill is around it's taking two existing policies and putting them into city law," said Councilman Mark Parker. "The first is an executive order that's been updated over the years by our mayors, and certainly by Mayor Brandon Scott whose leadership has been very steadfast in this regard and very clear. The other is Baltimore Police Department policy around specific interactions with immigration enforcement, both the kind of on the street and in other ways. It's taking those existing policies and putting the force of law behind them and allowing the City Council to affirm those policies, strengthen them."

A public hearing drew emotional testimony from city residents. A teacher described the toll federal immigration enforcement has taken on his immigrant students. A first responder told the council they had personally witnessed what they called "inhumane and immoral" conditions inside an ICE facility.

The council is also weighing a second, companion bill that would urge the state of Maryland to restrict ICE activity more broadly. Both houses of the General Assembly have already approved versions of legislation that would bar local law enforcement from partnering with federal immigration agents, though Gov. Wes Moore has not yet committed to signing either measure. A separate state proposal would restrict ICE agents from wearing masks during enforcement operations.

The city bills arrive amid escalating federal activity in the region. The Department of Homeland Security purchased a warehouse in Hagerstown, with a deed signed January 22 showing the property was acquired from FRND-Hopewell, LLC for $102.4 million; the facility could hold as many as 1,500 people. The U.S. General Services Administration's lease of office space in Cockeysville also prompted Baltimore County to pass its own emergency bill in February banning private detention facilities. Howard County enacted a similar ban in early February.

Baltimore County went further by passing Bill 98-25, Protections for Non-U.S. Citizens, which prohibits county employees, including police, from inquiring about a person's immigration status for civil enforcement purposes and limits ICE's ability to compel cooperation from local law enforcement. "Today, Baltimore County chose community over complicity," said Crisaly De Los Santos, We Are CASA's Central Maryland Director, crediting Councilman Izzy Patoka and the council for the vote.

Cohen framed the city package in similar terms. "Baltimore cannot control what Washington does, but we can control what happens within our own city," he said. "This legislation ensures that no private detention facility will be built on Baltimore soil to warehouse our neighbors."

ICE did not respond to a request for comment. The bill's path to a final council vote and any legal questions about how a municipal ordinance intersects with federal enforcement authority remain outstanding as the council continues its deliberations.