ICE poised to ramp up raids in Baltimore by Thanksgiving
ALSO INSIDE: Nursing student disappeared by ICE for seven months
Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky.
Government contracts provide insights into ICE’s plans for Baltimore
Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday made plans to lease two more buildings this month for officers conducting raids in the Baltimore area, a sign that the agency’s aggression in Maryland will intensify later this month, similar to what’s been seen in Chicago, Portland, and Memphis.
The Trump administration opened bidding on lease proposals for office space in Baltimore and Hyattsville, Maryland—a suburb of Washington, DC—just days after it successfully pressured Baltimore County officials to sign a mostly ceremonial document on its immigration policy. The memorandum reaffirms the county’s policy to alert federal authorities when detained immigrants are released from custody, but the Trump administration falsely spun it as Baltimore rolling out the red carpet for ICE.
“Despite restrictions from state leadership, Baltimore County has shown a willingness to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” the US Department of Justice said in a statement. “This is a small step toward restoring public safety and we appreciate the county’s commitment to updating its policies.”
The White House announced it would remove Baltimore County from a (made up) designation of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” and immediately began to set up shop. According to reporting by WYPR’s Scott Maucione, the administration secured a number of contracts for connected services in the weeks leading up to the designation, with physical office space to be made available last, once the tangential contracts were awarded.
Here’s a timeline of the Trump administration’s efforts to build immigration raid, abduction, and detention infrastructure in the Baltimore area:
Aug. 5: Department of Justice publishes list of sanctuary designations
Aug. 11: Trump states interest in sending federal law enforcement and military to Baltimore
Aug. 14: US Attorney General Pam Bondi sends a letter demanding compliance to dozens of sanctuary jurisdictions, including Baltimore County
Aug. 24: Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from Maryland and send troops to occupy Baltimore
Sept. 10: Department of Homeland Security sends warning letters to three other “sanctuary states”
Sept. 15: Bidding opens for vendor to provide detention meals in Maryland for six months, starting with 42,000 meals
Sept. 23: $233,000 contract for detention meals awarded to Kinro Manufacturing
Sept. 26: A ten-day bidding period opens for law enforcement office space with 70 workspaces and a server room in Baltimore
Sept. 30: $14 million contract for “furniture to support enforcement and removal operations” awarded to Price Modern in Baltimore
Sept. 30: $2.5 million contract for private security awarded to Bradley Technologies in Rockville, Maryland (the six-month contract began Oct. 1, and is already $300,000 over budget)
Oct. 22: DOJ sends Baltimore County a “memorandum of understanding” regarding cooperation with federal immigration enforcement
Oct. 27: Baltimore County signs memorandum of understanding
Oct. 30: A seven-day bidding period opens for law enforcement office space with 44 workspaces and a server room in Baltimore
Oct. 30: A seven-day bidding period opens for law enforcement office space with 35 workspaces and a server room in Hyattsville
An ICE spokesperson confirmed that the agency expects local law enforcement to fully comply with federal agents going forward, and they believe resistance to their expansion in the area will no longer be an issue.
“Per the current administration, ICE is working tirelessly to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and restore safety in our communities. The Baltimore Field Office looks forward to continuing to work with local law enforcement to prioritize public safety in Maryland,” the spokesperson said in a written statement. “Sanctuary jurisdictions weaken the integrity of our nation’s immigration laws and endanger the lives of our officers, alien offenders and most importantly, our communities, by forcing officers to make at-large arrests. Thankfully, this will no longer be an issue within Baltimore County.”
The timeline mirrors escalations against Chicago by the Trump administration earlier this year — and an attempt to avoid past mistakes. Over the summer, the government spent $7 million to relocate an unknown number of ICE employees to Chicago by Sept. 8. Once that contract was fulfilled, Operation Midway Blitz was publicly announced.
During the relocation, DHS spent $105,000 on porta-potties and laundry services for ICE operations in Chicago, $1.5 million on pepper balls and crowd-deterrent weapons, and identified federally owned buildings it could use as workspaces. Once all the pieces were in place, DHS ordered increasingly aggressive raids throughout the city, shooting protestors in the head with pepper balls and raiding one apartment complex with a Black Hawk helicopter.
The Baltimore County Executive has insisted that signing the memorandum has not changed the county’s policies at all, but whether or not the Trump administration will attempt to force cooperation remains to be seen.
Should DHS’ expansion into Baltimore follow a similar trajectory to that in Chicago, large-scale raids could begin as early as Thanksgiving.
Local activists are ramping up efforts to warn and prepare community members for a potential rise in ICE aggression in the area. Community canvasses are planned every Friday, and Eyes on ICE has weekly surveillance shifts near ICE field offices to provide a quick response and alert the public should they notice unusual activity at the facility.
Disappeared in America, an organization focused on locating those abducted by the federal government and holding the Trump administration accountable, plans to hold a protest on Saturday at a Home Depot where raids have been conducted.
It’s easy for individual members of Congress to get overlooked by national outlets as they quietly skate to reelection again, and again, and again. The following is an overview of different congressional representatives you may not have heard of, with fun facts about their origin stories they’ve tried to keep out of the public narrative.
US Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s 1st Congressional District
Since taking office in 2011, Rep. Andy Harris has:
Seen his net worth increase from $2.9M to $5.6M
Sponsored 47 bills
Authored one bill that has been signed into law, to rename a post office
Fun Facts
Harris is an anti-immigration son of immigrants whose father served in World War II alongside Nazis and fascists in the Royal Hungarian Army.
Harris helped plan the Jan. 6 insurrection, downplayed its severity after it failed, and tried to bring a gun onto the House floor a few weeks later.
As an anesthesiologist, Harris has played fast and loose with his doctor’s notes, prescribing the deworming drug ivermectin to COVID-19 patients, despite its lack of FDA approval for that use.
In 2001, while serving as a state legislator, Harris launched into a two-hour filibuster to block a bill that would prohibit discrimination against same-sex couples. His filibuster came to an end when a supermajority in the state Senate voted for him to shut up.
While his only successful legislation was naming a post office, in 2019, he failed to block the renaming of a different post office after Maya Angelou.
She left the US after seven months in ICE custody, but still dreams of a life in America
By Dylan Rhoney, Cardinal and Pine / COURIER
On the morning of Sept. 15, Allison Bustillo took her final steps in the United States.
In an interview with Cardinal & Pine, Bustillo recalled how “surreal” it felt to board her flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and leave “the only country that I knew for so many years. The only country that I called home.”
An undocumented immigrant who moved from Honduras to the United States as a child with her mother and siblings, Bustillo spent her formative years living in Shelby, North Carolina, where she graduated middle and high school, before moving to Charlotte to begin her career journey as an aspiring nurse.
Her life was turned upside down when she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Charlotte on Feb 20.
Within days, the 20-year-old was sent to the Stewart Detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia. She was never charged with a crime despite being held for seven months. She suffered through abysmal treatment and conditions in detention, which Cardinal & Pine reported on earlier this year.
After seven months in detention, with her health deteriorating and no resolution in sight, Bustillo made the decision to voluntarily depart the US on a commercial flight rather than be deported. Despite the anguishing seven months in detention and the treatment she suffered at the hands of the US government, Bustillo says she’s still grateful for America.
“One definitely being my family that’s there. And two, it’s the country that took me in as their own, and gave me the opportunity to be there, and I will never forget that,” Bustillo said in an interview from Honduras.
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