Judge Halts ICE Warehouse Conversion in Maryland, Requires New Environmental Review
The order halts work at the Williamsport warehouse and forces a new federal environmental review, raising new questions about when — or even if — the facility can open.
A federal judge on Wednesday halted the government’s effort to convert a warehouse in Washington County, Md., into an immigration detention facility, ruling that work cannot proceed until a full environmental review is completed — a process federal officials said could take years.
The decision, issued by Judge Adam B. Hurson of the U.S. District Court in Maryland, grants the state’s request for a preliminary injunction, blocking the work while the case proceeds.
The ruling extends a series of setbacks. In March, the court temporarily blocked construction at the Williamsport site. The new order keeps those restrictions in place.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in Michigan and New Jersey, where state and local officials are seeking to block the conversion of warehouses into detention facilities on environmental and procedural grounds. The ruling in Maryland could shape how courts evaluate those claims, particularly around environmental review requirements.
Under the injunction in Maryland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement may only carry out limited work, such as maintenance and repairs, but cannot proceed with retrofitting the warehouse for detention use.
At issue are requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates that federal agencies assess environmental impacts before undertaking major projects. Maryland argued that the Department of Homeland Security moved ahead with the purchase and early work without. Documents submitted by ICE lawyers last week in opposition to the injunction show the agency completed and approved its environmental review in a single day, then purchased the property the next.
During the hearing, a lawyer for the federal government acknowledged that completing the review could take years, WBAL reported.
The federal government purchased the 825,000-square-foot warehouse in January for about $102 million and began preparing the site for a facility expected to hold up to 1,500 detainees.
An administrative order issued this week by the Maryland Department of the Environment identified additional limits on the site.
The agency found that Washington County’s sewer system is not equipped to support a facility of that scale. The warehouse is currently allocated capacity equivalent to about 400 gallons of wastewater per day — consistent with warehouse use, not a residential facility. The order cites “deficiencies in the County’s water and sewerage plan” and states that infrastructure must be sufficient to “protect the environment, public health, and comfort.”
A pumping station serving the property is already operating near capacity, with more than 99 percent of its available flow allocated.
State regulators said wastewater flows from a detention facility would likely exceed the system’s limits, increasing the risk of overflows and environmental contamination.
The order directs the county to revise its water and sewer plan and bars any increase in sewage flow tied to the property until those issues are addressed.
A spokesperson for the Washington County Board of County Commissioners declined to comment, saying the county “does not comment on legal matters.”
While today’s injunction does not resolve the case, it does render the warehouse unusable for detention for the foreseeable future, unless and until the environmental review is completed.
ICE did not immediately return a request for comment.
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