Maryland’s U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks decried the “appalling situation” unfolding in the holding rooms at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Baltimore Field Office in the city’s downtown.

The letter sent today to the federal secretary of homeland security and acting ICE director comes after a recent visit by the staffs of the senators. Their visits were prompted, according to the letter, by reports of “prolonged detainment, overcrowding, and inhumane conditions.”

“While the local ICE personnel are making an effort to accommodate detainees’ needs during longer stays, it is clear that the directives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE Headquarters in service of President Trump’s mass deportation agenda are resulting in unacceptable harms inflicted on those being detained” there, the two senators wrote.

“It is imperative that the Baltimore Field Office, and all ICE temporary holding rooms across the country, follow all relevant ICE policies and immediately cease holding detainees in their facilities for more than the 12 hours permitted by current guidelines,” the letter added.

Last month The Banner wrote about immigrants being held at ICE’s Baltimore field office for multiple days at a time, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen local immigration attorneys.

The spotlight on the extended use of the temporary holding facility for overnight stays comes as President Trump’s administration is moving aggressively to curb immigration and to deport people living in the United States without documentation.

The location in downtown Baltimore is intended to be used to process those arrested by ICE before transferring them to a detention facility with an available bed. But there is a bottleneck in the system driven by several factors.

There is lack of bed space in detention facilities across the country. The situation has also been exacerbated by a 2021 Maryland law that effectively ended longer-term detention in the state.

That has resulted in people being held there longer. Guidelines have said detainees should not have to spend more than 12 hours in a holding room.

ICE officials have told local immigration attorneys they have been granted an exemption to the 12-hour rule, according to an email reviewed by The Banner. Last month, agency officials said now the time restriction doesn’t apply in Baltimore.

The two senators found that the average length of stay from January 20 to the date of the staff visit in March was about 1.5 days, much longer that what is supposed to be only six to eight hours.

The holding rooms, according to the senators, recently held up to 54 detainees at once, which they called “a concerning number” for the size of the rooms, and highly unlikely to meet ICE’s own requirements.

The letter also said that the senators’ staff also discovered there is no infirmary or medical staff onsite. “And even when a field medical coordinator is contacted, they are not able to speak to the detainees directly about their medical needs,” the letter states.

The Baltimore office currently has no food service contract, so ICE staff have been making sandwiches themselves or buying McDonald’s, the letter said.

There have been no traditional beds, so ICE staff used emergency foil blankets and inflatable beds that are sanitized daily, the letter said.

“Subjecting detainees to such inhumane and unsafe conditions does nothing to improve our border security or deter illegal immigration – it only puts people’s health and safety at risk,” the letter reads.

The senators have requested a review of the 12-hour waiver allowing detainees to be kept in the facility for extended periods of time by April 24. The senators also asked if ICE has additional plans in place to alleviate overcrowding at the facility.

Requests for comment from DHS and ICE were not immediately returned.