A coalition of civil rights and immigrant advocacy organizations has filed a major federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging what they describe as a pervasive and unlawful campaign of warrantless immigration arrests carried out across Maryland communities.
The 56-page legal action, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, alleges that federal authorities have adopted an unconstitutional "arrest first, ask questions later" enforcement posture. According to the complaint, federal immigration officers routinely stop and detain residents without judicial warrants, reasonable suspicion, or probable cause, violating protections guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment and various federal statutes.
The litigation was brought collectively by several prominent advocacy bodies, including We Are CASA, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, and the National Immigration Project. Together, these organizations represent a group of four Maryland residents—one woman and three men, three of whom are identified in court documents by their initials to shield their privacy.
Among the named individuals in the complaint is Samuel Guzman, a U.S. citizen and native of Maryland. The filing details how federal agents intercepted and detained Guzman as he exited a 7-Eleven convenience store. Despite immediately asserting his United States citizenship and presenting identification to the officers on the scene, Guzman was subjected to detention, illustrating the profound risk of wrongful targeting and apprehension faced by local residents.
Central to the legal challenge is extensive data regarding recent enforcement patterns within the state. The complaint asserts that approximately 80 percent of all individuals arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Maryland since 2025 had no criminal convictions on their records, directly challenging government assertions regarding the prioritization of public safety threats.
The lawsuit also highlights figures from "Operation Safe Community," an intensive two-week federal enforcement surge conducted across Maryland and Virginia last month. Of the roughly 1,300 people apprehended during that multi-state sweep, fewer than one-third had any history of criminal convictions, according to the court documents.
Furthermore, the legal filing reveals that federal authorities have conducted more than 7,000 street-level arrests throughout Maryland since President Donald Trump began his second term in office on January 20, 2025. Of those taken into custody during this 21-month timeframe, approximately 93 percent were nationals of Latin American or Caribbean countries, an overwhelming disparity that attorneys argue represents deliberate racial profiling.
During a news conference hosted at We Are CASA’s multicultural center in Langley Park, the organization's legal director, Shana Kader, strongly condemned the tactics employed by federal authorities. She characterized the enforcement apparatus as an unchecked campaign that has destabilized immigrant neighborhoods across the state.
Kader told attendees that over the preceding 21 months, armed, plainclothes, masked, and unidentified federal personnel have patrolled and terrorized diverse Maryland localities. She noted that these operations have spanned from the Eastern Shore and Baltimore's Park Heights neighborhood to the mountainous areas of Washington County, with officers systematically targeting Black and brown residents without warrants or legal justification.
Audience members and community advocates at the gathering reacted with vocal dismay to the accounts of aggressive enforcement, voicing their frustration over the disruptive presence of masked agents in residential areas. Attorneys present emphasized that such tactics erode trust between immigrant communities and public institutions while subjecting lawful residents to ongoing fear.
Leadership from other co-plaintiff organizations, including Austin Rose, managing attorney with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, and Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Maryland, joined the public presentation to underscore the constitutional necessity of challenging federal practices in court.
The lawsuit names high-ranking federal officials and their agencies as defendants. These include the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Markwayne Mullin; Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its acting director, David Venturella; as well as the Department of Justice and Attorney General Todd Blanche. Representatives from both ICE and Homeland Security did not provide comment regarding the legal action following inquiries.
The filing of the federal complaint coincided with community developments surrounding Tiago Alexandre Sousa Martin, a Maryland father who was formally released from ICE custody and reunited with his family on the same day. Sousa Martin had previously been shot by federal agents during an enforcement action in an Anne Arundel County neighborhood on December 24.
The legal action also comes amid heightened public scrutiny following a separate, high-profile confrontation in Frederick less than a week prior. During that incident, video recorded by Hagerstown Rapid Response captured federal agents pushing and grabbing demonstrators outside a residence, with at least one agent striking an individual on the ground with a baton.
Addressing that confrontation, Austin Rose of the Amica Center clarified that while the new federal lawsuit is not directly linked to the specific events in Frederick, it seeks broad systemic relief to permanently halt the administration's widespread deployment of warrantless street stops throughout Maryland.
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