Councilwoman Odette Ramos stopped Catalina Rodriguez-Lima mid-thought.

“I just want to make sure the public understands what you just said,” the city’s first Latina councilwoman probed. “People are planning on family separation.”

Rodriguez-Lima, who heads the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, had just finished explaining an initiative to get proper guardianship paperwork in the hands of immigrant children in anticipation of their parents being detained or deported.

“Yes, sadly,” Rodriguez-Lima said, her voice breaking before she trailed off.

Ramos’s eyes welled with tears of her own. “It is so heartbreaking what our community is going through,” she said, choking back tears. “And so I am asking the mayor’s office right now. You have to commit to us.”

Since the release of Scott’s $4.6 billion proposed budget, members of the council and the immigrant advocacy community have pressed the city for additional funding in the face of a federal immigration crackdown. Scott’s budget, which must still be approved or amended by the City Council, allocates about $966,000 for the immigrant affairs office — a modest increase over the prior year’s $757,000 commitment.

At the same time, Baltimore has found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration on the topic of immigration. Last week, the city was added to a U.S. Department of Justice list of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” locales said to be uncooperative with federal immigration laws and in jeopardy of losing funding. On Sunday, however, the list of the jurisdictions was removed from government websites.

At a budget hearing last week, City Administrator Faith Leach explained that Baltimore is still spending $4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money that was allocated for immigration assistance in 2022 — although the funds are set to run out in the next six to eight months.

Following Monday’s emotional exchange, an even stronger public commitment came from the administration. Chief of Staff Calvin Young said Scott will be adding money to the budget. Officials are still figuring out, however, how much funding will be included.

“I can commit to you right now, this is one of the top priorities right now,” Young said.

Ramos argued that about $2 million was needed — $1.1 million for legal services and $950,000 for community supports.

Immigrant rights group CASA has rallied public support for an unspecified increase in funds to pay for legal support, “know your rights” education and other services for immigrant families.

“The fact that it wasn’t given initially in this budget is shameful,” Ramos said Monday.

Young, who during the hearing said he acknowledged the “heartbreak of the moment,” later called the discussion a “public spectacle” in an interview.

The administration had multiple conversations with council members prior to Monday’s hearing and already committed to spend additional money, Young said.

“It was sort of surprising to us that it was postured to us in a way that we had not been having these conversations,” he said. “When there is a news article about this stuff, it makes it harder to do the work.”

Young said the funding was not initially included in Scott’s budget proposal because the city faces an $87 million structural deficit — a hole that the mayor has proposed filling, in part, with hikes to fines and fees. The city’s early budget preparations also happened before President Donald Trump took office, he said.

“I don’t think the narrative that we weren’t doing something is frankly accurate,” Young said. “What’s happening now is there’s an opportunity for more funding, and we’re reacting to that. We’re not just reacting to what the council says, but we’re reacting to the political realities of Donald Trump.”