ICE Moves Minneapolis Fleet to Williamsport Detention Warehouse

As ICE builds out a detention infrastructure across the mid-Atlantic, equipment from its Minneapolis operation is heading to Maryland.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is transporting approximately 100 vehicles from Minneapolis to a warehouse in Williamsport, Maryland, according to communications reviewed by Project Salt Box and a source familiar with the operation.

The vehicles are being moved from Minneapolis — where ICE’s months-long operation resulted in the detention of thousands and the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of masked agents, both captured on widely circulated video — to a warehouse at 16220 Wright Road that the Department of Homeland Security purchased earlier this year, as first reported by Project Salt Box. The Williamsport facility is being converted into a detention center capable of holding up to 1,500 people.

Meanwhile, a second source with direct knowledge of ICE’s vehicle staging in Baltimore told Project Salt Box that approximately 90 unmarked vehicles currently in the city are expected to be moved to an unknown destination by Sunday, March 1.

The vehicle transfers come just a week after ICE filed a federal solicitation to nearly triple its detainee capacity in the Baltimore region — a move that followed, by two weeks, Howard County’s passage of emergency legislation blocking a planned ICE detention facility in Elkridge.

The vehicle movement is the latest indication of an operational ramp-up in Maryland. As Project Salt Box has reported, federal procurement records, staged vehicle fleets, and accounts from inside the Baltimore field office all point to a significant expansion of enforcement activity in the region in the weeks ahead.