Councilwoman hands out flyers urging businesses to avoid cooperation with ICE

BALTIMORE CITY, MD (WBFF) — As ICE ramps up enforcement under the Trump Administration, Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos is hitting the streets as well. Baltimore’s first Latina Councilmember says she’s been going door to door to local businesses, handing out flyers explaining how to legally deny federal agents’ entry under certain circumstances.

“We’re just giving them the information to let them know what their rights are and what the rights are of their customers and their workers,” she says.

She spoke with FOX45 remotely on Friday from the Maryland Association of Counties conference in Ocean City, where she raised her concerns directly with ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Director Nikita Baker, accusing her agents of “terrorizing” immigrant communities and “kidnapping” residents.

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“I don’t think they’re just going after the worst of the worst, as they have said, I think they’re just going after anybody who’s Brown, and that is racial profiling. That is unconstitutional, and I asked her to stop,” she said.

While Baker argues it’s her “job to enforce the law”, Ramos referenced videos of ICE agents forcefully removing several individuals outside a Baltimore Home Depot and smashing car windows to detain others.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever seen this type of violence against our community, ever,” said Ramos.

But just this week, BPD arrested two undocumented immigrants caught on camera carrying out a violent attack in Canton. In broad daylight, a group of men on motorbikes can be seen swarming and viciously beating another rider, allegedly for stealing their bike. Court documents reveal Winston Rivero-Aliendo, now charged with attempted murder, admitted to stabbing the victim with a screwdriver.

When asked if she supports cooperation with ICE for violent offenders, Ramos said she supports holding them accountable under the law – but would not say whether she supports deportation in those instances.

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“You feel that they should be able to stay in this country even if they’ve committed a serious offense?” questioned a FOX45 reporter.

“What I believe is that everybody should be given due process. Everybody should be given their due process rights to face their consequences. And generally, people are here to make a better life for themselves,” Ramos replied.

However, her flyers and immigration policies haven’t sat well with everyone in her community. A business owner in Ramos’s district, who asked to remain anonymous, says she’s sending the wrong message, and potentially, making it harder for law enforcement to remove violent offenders.

“I think that any elected official that can’t come out and say they don’t want criminals here should re-evaluate what they’re doing for our community,” they said.