A coalition of civil rights organizations and legal advocacy groups has launched a major legal challenge against the Trump administration, alleging that federal immigration authorities are routinely executing unlawful, warrantless arrests across Maryland based on racial profiling.
The 56-page civil rights complaint was submitted to the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. In the filing, attorneys contend that federal agents have repeatedly violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, alongside other federal protections, by adopting a systematic practice characterized by advocates as an "arrest first, ask questions later" strategy.
According to the legal filing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel have conducted sweeping street operations that target individuals without probable cause, relying primarily on assumptions about their perceived race, ethnicity, or immigrant status.
The lawsuit presents extensive data to illustrate what advocates describe as an escalating pattern of indiscriminate enforcement. Over the approximately 21 months following President Donald Trump taking office for his second term on January 20, 2025, federal authorities have executed more than 7,000 street arrests within the state of Maryland.
The complaint emphasizes that the vast majority of those detained during these operations have had no record of criminal behavior. Specifically, the lawsuit states that 80 percent of individuals apprehended by ICE in Maryland since 2025 possessed no criminal convictions whatsoever.
Furthermore, plaintiffs point to strong indications of racial profiling in the agency's enforcement patterns. Court documents show that 93 percent of the thousands of individuals swept up in Maryland street arrests were citizens of Caribbean or Latin American nations, reflecting what attorneys argue is a deliberate targeting of Black and brown communities.
The filing also highlights the results of recent targeted enforcement surges, such as "Operation Safe Community." This two-week initiative, carried out last month across Maryland and Virginia, produced roughly 1,300 arrests. Despite the government's framing of such operations as public safety measures, the lawsuit notes that less than one-third of those taken into custody during the surge had any prior criminal convictions.
Among the individuals represented in the legal action is Samuel Guzman, a U.S. citizen born and raised in Maryland. According to the court documents, Guzman was stopped and detained by ICE officers immediately after exiting a local 7-Eleven store. Even after he produced identification and repeatedly informed agents of his American citizenship, he was held, illustrating the ongoing fear of unjust detention and wrongful re-arrest faced by local residents.
The legal action represents four individual Maryland residents—three men and one woman—with three of the plaintiffs identified solely by their initials in court records to safeguard their identities. The plaintiffs are represented by a coalition consisting of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, We Are CASA, the ACLU of Maryland, and the National Immigration Project.
During a press conference held at We Are CASA's multicultural center in Langley Park, Shana Kader, the organization's legal director, delivered a sharp rebuke of federal enforcement tactics. She stated that over the past 21 months, armed and masked federal agents in plainclothes—often operating without identification or proper training—have created a climate of fear throughout Maryland.
Kader noted that these operations have reached across varied geographic areas, extending from the Eastern Shore to Baltimore's Park Heights neighborhood and into the mountainous communities of Washington County. She condemned agents for staking out neighborhoods and detaining people they perceived to be Black or brown immigrants without legal warrants.
The press conference drew impassioned reactions from community members and supporters in attendance, with members of the crowd shouting "Shame!" in response to descriptions of aggressive street detentions.
The lawsuit lists several high-ranking administration figures and federal departments as defendants. Named in the action are the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Justice and Attorney General Todd Blanche, as well as ICE and its acting director, David Venturella.
Neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Department of Homeland Security provided immediate comment regarding the allegations laid out in the federal filing.
The court submission coincided with other high-profile developments involving ICE activities within the state. On the same day the suit was filed, We Are CASA confirmed that Tiago Alexandre Sousa Martin was freed from ICE custody and reunited with his family, months after being shot by federal immigration agents during a confrontation in Anne Arundel County on December 24.
Additionally, the legal challenge follows a recent confrontation in Frederick, Maryland, where video footage captured ICE agents pushing and grabbing protesters outside a residence, with at least one agent seen striking an individual on the ground with a baton. Austin Rose, a managing attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, clarified that while the lawsuit highlights systemic abuses, it is not directly anchored to that specific clash in Frederick.
Through this federal complaint, the advocacy groups are seeking judicial intervention to halt warrantless immigration stops and enforce strict constitutional limits on federal law enforcement practices throughout the region.
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