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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland urging the court to grant a preliminary injunction blocking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from continuing its pattern and practice of unlawful warrantless arrests across Maryland.
The brief was filed in Guzmán v. DHS, a class action lawsuit brought by Samuel Guzmán, three other individual plaintiffs, and We Are CASA, which alleges that ICE has systematically arrested people in Maryland without a warrant and without the individualized probable cause determinations required by federal law. Federal law permits a warrantless immigration arrest only when officers have probable cause both that a person is unlawfully present in the United States and that the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.
“The law is clear about what ICE must establish before making a warrantless arrest, and Maryland families are entitled to that protection,” said Attorney General Brown. “This brief urges the court to hold ICE to the law and put a stop to unlawful arrests in our State.”
Maryland’s brief supports the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction requiring ICE to cease making warrantless immigration arrests in Maryland without a probable cause determination pre-arrest that the person will flee before a warrant can be obtained. The brief argues that ICE’s disregard of these safeguards has caused widespread harm in Maryland, contributing to declining graduation rates among Hispanic and English-learner students, immigrants avoiding medical care out of fear, disruptions to businesses and the local economy, and diminished trust in law enforcement that makes victims and witnesses less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police.
The brief further notes that ICE has purportedly arrested nearly 7,000 people in Maryland without a warrant since January 2025, a nearly 500 percent increase in the weekly rate of such arrests compared to the previous year. Those arrested have included U.S. citizens, among them Annapolis-born plaintiff Samuel Guzmán.
More than one million Marylanders are immigrants. The Attorney General is fighting to ensure that the rights of the immigrant community and the rights of all Marylanders are protected. For more information on the Attorney General’s efforts, visit the Federal Actions Response page on our website.
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