With a 180% spike of shelf-stable breakfasts, lunches and dinners coming to Baltimore and a fresh fleet of several dozen unmarked vehicles already here, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is bulking up on inventory for its downtown facilities.
When asked about the new supplies and whether immigration arrests will be accelerated regionally, an ICE spokesperson acknowledged multiple requests for comment Wednesday but did not provide a statement.
Federal procurement records reviewed by The Baltimore Sun do not indicate how the vehicles and meals will be used, or where. Although an ICE address in the city is provided for the food shipment, transportation routes show that ICE’s Baltimore Field Office operates throughout Maryland and several other states along the East Coast.
Spokespeople for U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday that the Democrats were aware of both the vehicles and the ballooned meal, ready-to-eat (MRE) orders.
In a statement, Van Hollen wrote that he has “serious concerns with their buildup of resources in our state, the lack of transparency around their taxpayer-funded purchases, and what it all means for our communities.” The senator’s attempts to learn more from ICE have failed, they said.
These impending and fulfilled supplies come as state lawmakers passed emergency legislation, prohibiting local law enforcement from entering into 287(g) agreements with the federal agency. The written partnerships allowed local agencies to transfer undocumented immigrants in their custody to immigration agents. Signed by Moore almost a week later, in the wake of high-profile deaths of two U.S. citizens during ICE operations in Minneapolis, the law went into effect immediately.
A spokesperson in Moore’s office said Wednesday that, “While Maryland will continue to coordinate with federal law enforcement to hold violent offenders accountable, Governor Moore is crystal clear that untrained, unqualified, unaccountable federal agents have no place in our state.”
Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees told The Sun in a phone interview that “the safest, most efficient way” of dealing with ICE was through county jails. Unaware of any added plans or deployments, the Republican sheriff said without 287(g) agreements, the federal agency would turn their attention to the streets, dragging undocumented immigrants who may not have committed any crimes into “the mix.”
Spikes in food orders
Used often by the nation’s military or in humanitarian crises, MREs are lightweight rations sealed in a way that they can be kept fresh for years without preservatives.
According to a solicitation posted Friday on SAM.gov, the federal government’s contracting database, the Department of Homeland Security is planning to almost triple its stockpile of MREs in Baltimore compared to its last order.
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Public records show that the agency approved a six-month, $233,000 order in September to a Florida-based manufacturer for breakfasts, lunches and dinners for “Baltimore AOR detainees.”
That contract called for 5,000 breakfasts and 10,000 lunches/dinners to be delivered to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office every 90 days, as well as 1,500 packages of each to their Salisbury facility.
Friday’s contract opening shows that the agency is now looking to bring 15,000 breakfasts and 27,000 lunches/dinners to Baltimore for the same three-month period.
Those changes mark 200% and 170% increases, respectively, for Baltimore. Although a permit to build an ICE detention center was revoked in Howard County earlier this month, the solicitation’s “Statement of Work” notes that the city’s field office is scheduled to relocate to that same Elkridge building in May.
Meanwhile, the meal pouches ordered to ICE’s sub-office in Salisbury remained the same as the September contract.
According to SAM.gov, the new contract would last for one year, with the option to renew four times.
An unmarked fleet
There were approximately 60 brand-new, unmarked vehicles parked Tuesday evening on the top floors of the Symphony Center Garage in the city’s Midtown-Belvedere neighborhood. Cordoned off by a few orange cones, many were clearly marked as having a law enforcement purpose, including 11 Ford “Police Interceptor” SUVs, while several others referred to the General Services Administration, which helps manage federal agencies.
All in all, the collection of pickup trucks and SUVs — which included Dodge Durangos and Chevy Tahoes — cost millions of dollars, with price tags upward of $50,000 each. Some were equipped with side spotlights, as well as police perimeter detection and alert systems.
It’s not clear when the fleet was taken to the garage, which is part of a complex that also houses Van Hollen’s congressional district office.
Asked Tuesday whether the Baltimore Field Office was expecting an influx of agents, or if these vehicles were being used for an expanded removal effort in the city, an ICE spokesperson spoke about the agency at large. They said that the financial support provided by the Big Beautiful Bill has helped ICE more than double its ranks, from 10,000 officers to 22,000.
Fleet vehicles, the spokesperson said, “are a necessary piece of equipment for onboarding officers and agents.”
“With these new patriots on the team, we will be able to accomplish what many say was impossible and fulfill President Trump’s promise to make America safe again,” the spokesperson said.
Baltimore City Councilmember Odette Ramos told The Sun on Wednesday that she knows the fleet is here, but not why.
“They’re already here terrorizing our communities,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they started ramping up all across the state and that’s because they’re ramping up all over, not just because it’s here.”
From the courts to the streets?
The emergence of the vehicles and Friday’s MRE order come as leaders of Maryland’s political and legal systems spar over ICE’s expansion across the state.
On Monday, several weeks after the government bought a warehouse in Washington County, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sued the Trump administration over what could become a 1,500-bed immigration detention facility in Williamsport. Building on other Democrats’ complaints that the warehouse deal lacked transparency, Brown argued that the government’s $102.4 million purchase last month requires an environmental review.
The Washington County Board of County Commissioners endorsed the Trump administration’s immigration efforts in a resolution passed earlier this month, saying the efforts had their “full support.”
A message seeking comment from the White House was not returned by The Sun’s print deadline.
Maryland House Minority Leader Jason Buckel quickly called the case another example of Democrats “virtue signaling when it comes to ICE.”
The lawmakers that are challenging ICE — including the Howard County Council, which passed its own emergency bill blocking permits for private detention centers — are putting citizens and police at risk, DeWees, the Carroll County sheriff said.
“All they’re doing by not working with ICE is inviting that sort of enforcement into their jurisdiction,” he said. “They should work with ICE. That is the best way to do it.”
Ramos, the city councilmember, said in a phone interview that she’s been expecting something more from ICE and reminding her constituents of their right to remain silent about their immigration or citizenship status. The 14th District Democrat also encouraged all residents to safely record any ICE interaction they see.
“We’ve been organizing on the ground and unfortunately predicted that there would be an escalation … and we’ll be as ready as we can,” Ramos said
Have a news tip? Contact Luke Parker at [email protected], 410-725-6214, on X as @lparkernews or on Signal as @parkerluke.34.
