MD Asks Court To Halt Plans For 'Unlawful' ICE Detention Facility

BALTIMORE, MD — State prosecutors have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking a judge to stop the Trump administration from converting a warehouse in Washington County into a mass immigration detention facility.

The warehouse, located near Williamsport, was purchased by the federal government in January. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Trump administration intends to convert the industrial warehouse into a detention center capable of housing 1,500 people at a time.

A month later, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown filed a lawsuit challenging the purchase and accused the federal government of conducting it behind closed doors and without proper environmental review, public participation, or state consultation.

“The Trump administration will stop at nothing to pursue its extreme immigration agenda, including breaking the law," Brown said. “We will not allow this administration to treat laws like suggestions and threaten our people or their communities."

According to the lawsuit, ICE’s purchase of the Williamsport warehouse is part of a broader effort to build mass detention infrastructure across the country by purchasing facilities and converting them into detention centers capable of holding tens of thousands of people.

In recent months, officials in Baltimore and Howard counties have taken steps to bar immigration centers from being built in their communities.

In an emergency session on Feb. 17, the Baltimore County Council banned the establishment of any new immigration detention centers in the county. The unanimous 6-0 vote on Bill 14-26 changed zoning regulations to prohibit the county from granting any permits for a detention center, jail, or any other structure that can be used for "involuntary confinement."

The legislation allows Baltimore county to suspend or revoke any permit tied to a detention center that was either applied for or issued since Jan. 1.

And Howard County leaders on Feb. 5 passed two emergency bills to block the use of privately owned buildings as federal detention centers and limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to county facilities and properties. The measures also ban any kind of ICE agreement with any county agency.

The state of Maryland lawsuit claims that DHS and ICE violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not explaining the decision to establish a mass detention center in Washington County, failing to consider reasonable alternatives, and abandoning their own past practice of conducting environmental reviews for similar detention facility projects.

According to the lawsuit, the Williamsport project could have significant impacts on local waterways and the Potomac River watershed, state-protected species, air quality, traffic, and public health and safety.

It also accuses the federal government of depriving Maryland residents of an opportunity to raise concerns about the project.

"Nationwide, ICE detention facilities have faced documented concerns about inhumane conditions, access to medical care, and denial of basic dignity," Brown said in a statement. "Converting a warehouse, designed for commerce, into a detention center raises grave concerns that individuals detained at this new facility would face similar or worse conditions."

Following the lawsuit's filing, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a temporary restraining order on March 11, immediately pausing any construction or retrofitting of the warehouse.

In its latest filing requesting a preliminary injunction, the state of Maryland is asking the court to bar the DHS and ICE from constructing, retrofitting, or operating the Williamsport warehouse as an immigration detention facility while litigation is ongoing.

Congresswoman April McClain Delaney said on Jan. 27 that ICE's purchase of the warehouse in Washington County's historic Williamsport was "carried out without transparency, community input, or accountability (and) is unacceptable. … Let me be clear: planning a detention facility behind closed doors is not governance - it is intimidation. For DHS to make such egregious plans in the cloak of darkness is yet another example of a lawless agency hellbent on harassing, assaulting, and killing our neighbors."

ICE, which is part of DHS, has purchased at least seven warehouses in several states, including Maryland, according to signed deeds. Other deals have been announced but not yet finalized, though buyers scuttled sales in eight locations.

DHS objected to calling the sites warehouses, stressing in a statement that they would be “very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards.”

Related:

• 2 ICE Detention Centers In MD Face Different Fates
• Baltimore Co. Council Approves Ban On ICE Detention Centers

• ICE Detention Centers Blocked By Howard County Council

The Associated Press contributed reporting.