Baltimore Council targets private immigration detention centers with new legislation

Chevall Pryce, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 9, 2026

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BALTIMORE — Baltimore City Council members introduced a bill Thursday aimed at banning private detention facilities in the city, following a surprise inspection of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office and holding facility.

The measure, pushed by Council President Zeke Cohen, would use the city’s zoning code to prohibit private companies from operating detention centers. Cohen said the law cannot affect federal facilities like the George H. Fallon Federal Building, but it could block privately run centers.

“We know that when prisons are privatized, it creates a profit motive to incarcerate more people. We don’t want that in the city of Baltimore,” Cohen said. “We are using our zoning code to make it a prohibited use.”

The bill comes after ICE contracted KVG LLC, a private defense contractor, to open a detention center near Hagerstown in Williamsport. ICE vehicles were recently spotted at Baltimore’s Symphony Garage Center before being relocated to the new facility.

Councilwoman Odette Ramos said the legislation sends a clear message against federal immigration enforcement policies. “This racist, white supremacist, misogynist federal government is just not welcome here,” she said. “We’re taking these actions very clearly to send that strong message.”

The bill is now assigned to the council’s land use and transportation committee for its first reading. A related measure, the Safe Spaces and Communities bill, would bar ICE from using city-owned buildings such as schools, libraries, and parks, and is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday.

Concerns about detainees

On Monday morning, Maryland politicians, including Baltimore City Council, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, visited the Fallon building unannounced. The group found that the more than 200 detainees the Fallon building was holding had been moved to another facility. ICE has not responded to The Baltimore Sun’s inquiry on where the detainees were taken.

Cohen called the conditions of the detainees living quarters at the Fallon building as “abysmal.”

“For months there have been reports of prolonged detainment, overcrowding and inhumane conditions inside ICE’s Baltimore field office,” he said. “The private prison industrial complex doesn’t just harm our immigrant neighbors. There should never be a profit motive to incarcerate people.”

Mayor Brandon Scott signed an executive order last Monday banning ICE from using city-owned buildings or entering government offices without a judicial warrant.

Baltimore Police officers are also restricted from asking about immigration status during regular encounters or detaining residents based on immigration status. Scott said the bill was meant to shield Baltimore’s residents from ICE operations.

“Our immigrant neighbors are an integral part of Baltimore’s social and economic fabric,” Scott said last week.

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