Maryland Community Rises Up to Halt ICE Warehouse Detention Center Amid Legal Battle

Horns blared and protesters screamed “Stop ICE!” outside a Washington County, Maryland, commission meeting where officials were supposed to discuss routine local matters like the solid waste budget. Instead, the community’s outrage was impossible to ignore. The federal government’s plan to transform an 825,000-square-foot warehouse into a detention facility for hundreds to over a thousand immigrants has stirred fierce opposition across the county.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bought the warehouse as part of a nationwide strategy to convert warehouses into immigrant detention centers, a plan initiated under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and now under review by her successor, Markwayne Mullin. The government spent over $1 billion on 11 such warehouses, but the Washington County project is now paused amid a court battle. Maryland’s attorney general sued to stop the renovations, and a judge temporarily halted work with a hearing set for mid-April.

Locally, officials have been caught between federal plans and community backlash. County commissioners approved a proclamation declaring “unwavering support” for DHS and ICE, but it sparked boos and protests so intense that the meeting was cleared. Residents say they had no say in the federal purchase and resent the lack of transparency. “We have had no voice in this,” said protester Carroll Sager, holding a sign that read “Disenfranchised in Washington County.” The sheriff’s department cordoned off parts of the county building to control demonstrators.

The facility, originally built for package distribution, is now slated to hold 500 to 1,500 detainees temporarily before they are transferred elsewhere. The Baltimore ICE office would use it to ease overcrowding, especially given concerns about the existing downtown Baltimore detention center, where Legionnaires’ disease bacteria have been found in the water.

The controversy in Maryland mirrors resistance in other states. Lawsuits in New Jersey and Michigan challenge the federal government’s lack of communication and question the choice of warehouses over empty state prisons. Some towns have threatened to cut off water to these facilities, while others have exposed suspiciously inflated purchase prices—one warehouse was bought for double its tax-assessed value.

Since Mullin’s confirmation, DHS has paused new warehouse purchases and is reviewing all contracts signed under Noem. The department says it wants to be “good partners” with communities and is reconsidering the plans and scope of these projects.

But for residents like Nica Sutch, who has lived in western Maryland for nearly 30 years, the damage may already be done. Once hopeful the warehouse would bring economic benefits, she now contemplates moving away from the area she loves.

This standoff highlights the broader fight over the Trump-era immigration detention expansion. It exposes how communities are pushing back against a federal government determined to build a sprawling, for-profit detention system with little regard for local voices, human rights, or democratic accountability. As the court battle unfolds, Washington County’s residents and activists remain vigilant, demanding transparency and an end to ICE’s overreach.