McClain Delaney and Maryland Delegation Demand Independent Investigation After ICE Operation in Frederick

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Congresswoman April McClain Delaney (MD-06), alongside Senator Chris Van Hollen, led the full Maryland Congressional delegation in demanding an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into the tactics employed by ICE during its operation in Frederick on September 3rd and 4th. The letter went to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Acting ICE Director David Venturella, and DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, and it sets a response deadline of October 1, 2026. 

The Members want to know whether ICE had a warrant before entering the home, whether that warrant was administrative or judicial, whether agency policy permits using vehicles to clear peaceful observers, and how ICE obtained a local official’s personal information and why an officer recited it back to her. A federal law enforcement vehicle drove down a Frederick sidewalk and struck an observer. Officers used a baton on a protester and dragged another person off the front steps of a home. An ICE officer told a local elected official that the agency knew her name, her license plate, and where she lived. 

All of it happened over roughly 40 hours in one neighborhood of Frederick, in Maryland’s Sixth District, and all of it is on video. 

“The Frederick community deserves better from its government,”,” said Congresswoman April McClain Delaney. “None of what happened there earlier this month made anyone safer. This Administration claims it is targeting the worst of the worst, but its own numbers show that seven out of ten people arrested in this region had no criminal record. I brought Team Maryland together because our constituents deserve to know who authorized this operation, what warrant ICE relied on, and what use-of-force policy allowed these tactics. We expect clear answers by October 1.”

The letter also presses DHS on the scope of last month’s two-week surge across Maryland and Virginia. By the Department’s own numbers, nearly 70 percent of the 1,328 people arrested in that operation had no criminal record. 

The letter was signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Representatives April McClain Delaney, Steny H. Hoyer, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, Glenn F. Ivey, Sarah Elfreth, and Johnny Olszewski, Jr. 

The full letter is available [here].