DHS Blames Weather for Baltimore ICE Overcrowding — The Timeline Doesn't Add Up
Federal officials cite storm that hadn't yet peaked when video was already online
The Department of Homeland Security blamed winter weather for severe overcrowding at a Baltimore immigration facility, but weather records and the video’s timeline contradict that explanation.
In a statement to the Baltimore Sun on Monday, a DHS spokesperson attributed the packed conditions at 31 Hopkins Plaza to the “latest bout of winter weather,” claiming the storm made it “nearly impossible for ICE to safely transfer detainees from processing facilities like this one in Baltimore, to long-term detention facilities as scheduled.”
The video was circulating online before the storm delivered its heaviest snowfall.
National Weather Service data recorded at Baltimore-Washington International Airport showed that as of 2:26 a.m. on Jan. 25, only trace amounts of snow had fallen. By 4:24 p.m. that day, 7.6 inches had accumulated, with the bulk of snowfall occurring during Saturday’s daytime hours.
Someone posted the video to Instagram in the early morning of Jan. 25. It appeared on Reddit by 11:45 a.m., and Project Salt Box reported on it at 1:24 p.m. Saturday—before the storm’s peak.
For DHS’s weather explanation to be accurate, the overcrowding visible in the footage would need to have resulted from transfer disruptions that occurred before the storm arrived.
A 10-day detention blamed on one day of snow
More significantly, the weather narrative ignores what the video’s narrator actually says. Speaking in Spanish, he states that he and others had been held at the facility for “over 10 days.”
That claim, if accurate, would place DHS in an impossible position. If the detainees were apprehended during the storm, they would have been held for less than 48 hours when the video surfaced—not 10 days. That would also mean ICE conducted a mass apprehension operation in the middle of a winter storm severe enough to, by the agency’s own account, make safe transfers “nearly impossible.”
If, alternatively, the detainees were apprehended before the storm—as the 10-day timeline suggests—then dozens of people were packed into a short-term processing facility during a week of clear weather, when transfers were fully possible.
Either way, the weather does not explain the overcrowding documented in the video. The storm cited by DHS began Saturday night. The overcrowding existed before it arrived.
ICE’s own guidance limits stays in such facilities to 12 hours. A waiver issued last year by Monica Burke, assistant director of custody management, extended that to 72 hours during “exceptional circumstances.”
The Sun reported Monday that the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights has data showing over a quarter of individuals at the Baltimore facility are routinely held beyond 72 hours, suggesting the conditions documented in the video reflect longstanding practices rather than weather-related disruptions.
A robust transfer network
Transportation schedules obtained by Project Salt Box show ICE maintains a dense network of regular ground routes from the Baltimore facility, with vans running to dozens of detention centers multiple times per week.
The schedules show routes operating as frequently as three to four times weekly to facilities across Maryland, and regular service—some daily, others multiple times per month—to facilities in seven other states. One route to the Dorchester County Department of Corrections runs twice weekly at 85 miles; another to facilities in Virginia runs twice monthly at 220 miles.
The procurement documents also show ICE contracts for transportation to multiple regional airports, including Reagan National, Dulles, BWI, Philadelphia International, and Newark Liberty International, providing additional transfer options even if ground routes faced delays.
While the storm ultimately impacted much of the Eastern Seaboard—including areas as far south as Charlotte—road conditions remained safe for travel through Friday and into Saturday night before the storm arrived. The National Weather Service did not issue winter storm warnings for the Baltimore area until Friday evening, and significant snowfall did not begin until late Saturday night.
If detainees had been held for “over 10 days” as the narrator states, that means they were in the facility throughout the entire preceding week when roads were clear and the transfer network was fully operational. DHS’s statement does not explain why transfers were not completed during that period, before any weather became a factor.
The statement also does not address whether the agency proactively suspended ground transfers in advance of the storm—or why dozens of detainees would need to remain in a processing facility designed for 12-hour stays even if some transfer routes faced temporary delays on Saturday.
Contract requirements vs. reality
The contract governing ICE’s Baltimore transportation operations contradicts DHS’s weather explanation.
According to a draft Performance Work Statement for ICE’s transportation services in Baltimore, the contractor must provide transportation services within two hours of notification by the government, around the clock.
The draft also includes specific protocols for handling weather emergencies, requiring transportation officers to “contact State authorities to assess road conditions” and “request further instructions from the receiving office.”
The existence of these weather protocols suggests ICE anticipated and planned for winter storms—undermining claims that Saturday’s snowfall made operations “nearly impossible.”
More significantly, the proposal defines the facility at 31 Hopkins Plaza as a “processing facility” intended for holding detainees for no more than 12 hours before transfer to long-term detention facilities. The 72-hour waiver issued by Burke explicitly applies only during “exceptional circumstances.”
If detainees were held for “over 10 days” as the video’s narrator states, that would exceed even the emergency waiver by more than a week. DHS has not explained how a storm that had not yet arrived constitutes an “exceptional circumstance” for people who had already been in the facility for more than a week.
Ongoing scrutiny, few answers
The facility at 31 Hopkins Plaza has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months. In June, two immigration advocacy groups filed a lawsuit alleging long stays and inadequate conditions. The following month, Maryland’s two U.S. senators and two U.S. representatives staged a sit-in after being denied entry for an oversight tour.
The video raises additional questions that remain unanswered. The narrator claims some detainees are in the United States legally and alleges that a guard beat a detainee. ICE has not responded to questions from Project Salt Box about those claims or about the narrator’s statement that detainees had been held for over 10 days.
Both of Maryland’s U.S. senators said Monday they are seeking answers. “My team has reached out to ICE repeatedly and have yet to get clear answers,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen wrote on social media.
The DHS statement to the Sun offered only general assurances that detainees receive “appropriate care including food, blankets, water, and medical services,” without addressing the specific conditions or duration of stays shown in the video.
The snowstorm that hit Baltimore over the weekend was real. Whether it caused the overcrowding documented on video is another question. The timeline and the narrator's own words suggest it did not.
ICE has not responded to questions about why detainees would remain in a facility designed for 12-hour stays throughout a week of clear weather, or how a storm that had not yet arrived constituted an exceptional circumstance.
Solid breakdown of how the official narrative crumbles under basic timeline analysis. The contrast between ICE's 12hour guideline and the narrator's 10 day claim is pretty damning, especially when the facility had a full week of clear weather to address this. I've seen similar gaps between policy and reality in detetion systems before, but the weather excuse being deployed pre-storm is a new level of accountability dodging.