Judge Rubin Caps Detainees at Fallon Building to 56, Citing Unconstitutional Conditions

U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to limit the total number of people held in the George H. Fallon Federal Building, 31 Hopkins Plaza, to 56 detainees across five holding cells, issuing the directive in the March 6–7, 2026 timeframe. The ruling follows a class-action challenge by two Central American women identified in filings as V.R.G. and B.N.N.

Rubin’s preliminary order found the conditions inside the Fallon Building’s “Baltimore Hold Rooms” presented health and safety risks rising to the level of unconstitutional conditions of confinement under the Fifth Amendment. Court filings and sworn declarations reported by local outlets allege detainees were denied critical medications for leukemia, HIV, diabetes and high blood pressure, and that rooms lacked windows, clocks and calendars while detainees were denied outdoor access and recreational materials.

The judge imposed several operational protocols. The order requires that, “A medical professional or specially trained detention officer must conduct a basic medical screening on each detainee within 12 hours of entry and before putting them in a hold room with other detainees.” Hold rooms must be cleaned at least once daily, ICE or ICE-contracted staff must furnish basic hygiene supplies, and detainees must be provided medically necessary special diets and services for physical disabilities. The court also set a specific space rule: ICE officials cannot hold detainees “in spaces less than 31 square feet exclusive of floor area within 8 feet of any toilet.” The filings further require measures to ensure access to medications, with reporting that prescription access should be facilitated within 24 hours.

The litigation that produced the order began nearly 10 months earlier, when V.R.G. and B.N.N. sought class certification on behalf of others detained at the Fallon Building; Judge Rubin formally recognized the two women as class representatives for a group the court filing described as potentially numbering in the thousands. The Banner described the ruling as preliminary, and the case remains active in federal court.

U.S. immigration records cited in the filings show repeated overcrowding at the Fallon Building in 2025. One documented day reached a population of 123 detainees, more than double the new cap, and reporting indicates that on many days in 2025 the hold rooms exceeded what Rubin ordered as safe. At those prior occupancy peaks, WMAR calculated each detainee would have had roughly 10 square feet of space, about the size of a baby crib mattress.

Local coverage noted WBAL reporter Robert Lang discussed the decision with U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey; no ICE statement or Department of Homeland Security response was included in the reporting excerpts. The order’s immediate operational effects could include transfers, altered intake procedures and constraints on local enforcement as ICE adjusts to the screening, cleaning and medication timelines imposed by Judge Rubin’s order.

For now, the Fallon Building at 31 Hopkins Plaza must comply with the court’s 56-person cap and the list of medical and hygiene protocols while the broader constitutional challenge proceeds through the federal court. The ruling ties specific daily procedures to the Fifth Amendment finding and creates a legal test of how short-term ICE hold rooms operate in Baltimore.