Community Leaders, Elected Officials, and Civil Rights Organizations Challenge DHS’s Secret, Rushed Plan to Convert Hagerstown Warehouse into Mass Immigration Detention Center

HAGERSTOWN, MARYLAND — A broad coalition of local officials, faith leaders, and civil rights organizations filed an amicus curiae brief Thursday in State of Maryland v. Noem, urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to halt DHS’s rushed plan to convert a massive Williamsport warehouse into a large-scale immigration detention center.

The brief supports the State of Maryland’s request for a preliminary injunction and calls for a pause so the public can understand and weigh in on the full impact of a project that would confine thousands of human beings in a facility never designed for human habitation.

DHS has indicated it intends to hold up to 1,500 people per day at the site, rapidly cycling individuals through every three to seven days. This means as many as 182,500 people could pass through the facility in a single year. Despite the scale and consequences of this proposal, federal law requiring advance notice and opportunities for public input has been disregarded. Months after DHS purchased the 825,620-square-foot warehouse, local officials and residents report they have received no meaningful communication about the agency’s plans.

According to news reports, the facility is intended to be among the first in a nationwide network of large-scale detention warehouses, with operations expected to begin as early as this spring.

The brief was filed on behalf of Washington County State Delegate Matt Schindler; Hagerstown City Council Members Caroline Anderson, Erika Bell, and Tiara Burnett; Hagerstown Rapid Response; Hagerstown Area Religious Council; the Washington County Branch of the NAACP; the ACLU of Maryland; and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.

“We are proud to join local elected officials and community members seeking basic information and a voice in DHS’s secret, rushed and ill-conceived plans for a massive detention center in their small community,” said Sonia Kumar, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Maryland. “The more information we learn, the clearer it becomes that this cruel undertaking to put human beings in warehouses ‘like Amazon prime packages’ is not just wrong – it’s a giant waste of resources utterly disconnected from practical reality or the real investments that American communities want and deserve.”

The brief raises urgent concerns about the region’s already strained infrastructure. Hagerstown’s water treatment facility, built in 1928 and operating at capacity, cannot support a facility that city officials estimate would require up to 150,000 gallons of water per day, more than 100 times its current allocation. No application for additional water usage has been submitted. The filing also highlights serious risks related to wastewater, emergency response capacity, and transportation along already congested I-81 and I-70 corridors. Nearly all of Washington County’s fire, rescue, and EMS services rely on volunteers, and the nearest EMS department is staffed by just eight volunteer paramedics.

Beyond infrastructure, the brief underscores the human consequences of large-scale detention. Such facilities have repeatedly been linked to dangerous outbreaks of infectious disease, including a Virginia detention center where 93% of detainees tested positive for COVID-19 and a recent measles outbreak at a DHS facility in Texas. Since January 2025, 46 people have died in ICE custody, the highest number in more than two decades.

At its core, the coalition argues, the proposal reflects a troubling shift toward mass, industrialized detention that erodes basic standards of care and human dignity—with repercussions for the entire community.

“The federal government’s rushed plan to convert giant warehouses into a dystopian immigration detention system nationwide — starting here in Maryland — reflects a deliberate effort to rapidly scale mass detention in secrecy and without oversight, seriously endangering human lives, local communities, the environment, and public health,” said Adina Appelbaum, Program Director of the Immigration Impact Lab at Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “Using an uninhabitable warehouse meant for goods to confine human beings is deeply dehumanizing — it treats our neighbors like Amazon Prime inventory, disregarding their dignity, health, and humanity. As record numbers of deaths skyrocket in ICE detention, Maryland communities will not stand by as the government seeks to force human warehouses in their backyard.”

Community opposition is already clear. A survey of nearly 5,000 residents in Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District found that more than 80% oppose the project.

“Doing what’s right doesn’t require permission, even when the room pushes back,” said Councilwoman Anderson. “We have an obligation to stand up for our residents and demand transparency and accountability when federal actions threaten our community’s well-being.”

Amici urges the Court to grant the preliminary injunction, allowing time for proper environmental review, public input, and a full accounting of the consequences before irreversible harm is done.

Amici are also proud to have filed alongside a coalition of environmental organizations that submitted a separate amicus brief highlighting the serious environmental harms posed by this project. Together, these filings underscore the full scope of risks, from threats to public health and human dignity to strains on water, natural resources, and local infrastructure. Read the environmental organizations’ press release here: https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/maryland-latest-site-for-rapid-and-reckless-expansion-of-immigration-detention

“We have a duty to protect our local residents, defend our environment, and preserve the strength of our local economy,” said Delegate Schindler. “Reckless, unchecked growth, especially projects like a proposed ICE detention center; cannot come at the expense of our community’s safety, character, and long-term prosperity, nor can it come at the cost of human dignity.”

The Amici are represented by Sonia Kumar, Deborah Jeon, and Gina Elleby of the ACLU of Maryland and Adina Appelbaum of Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.