Maryland sues to stop conversion of $102.4M warehouse into 1,500‑bed ICE facility

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown filed a federal lawsuit on Feb. 23, 2026 seeking to halt construction and operation of a proposed 1,500‑bed immigration detention and processing center built inside an 825,000‑square‑foot warehouse on roughly 54 acres outside Williamsport in Washington County. The complaint names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and argues the federal government failed to follow environmental and administrative law.

The state says DHS paid $102.4 million on Jan. 16, 2026 for the property and is moving to convert the site into a large detention facility as part of a broader effort to acquire warehouses nationwide. The complaint alleges the purchases are part of a “mass immigration detention scheme,” noting that the administration is seeking to retrofit warehouses into centers that could hold tens of thousands of immigrants across the country while this site alone would hold 1,500 people at a time.

Maryland’s suit asserts violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, charging that federal agencies conducted no mandatory environmental review, failed to solicit public input and provided “little information to the State concerning its plans for the property, depriving the State of the information needed to fully assess the harm Defendants' actions will have on Plaintiff's sovereign interests.” The complaint warns the conversion will have “predictable impacts on the environmental, economic, and public health and safety interests of the State of Maryland.”

Brown framed the litigation as immediate relief for residents and legal accountability. “We're asking the court to halt construction and operation of this facility. We're asking the court to require a proper environmental review with full public input. We're asking the court to declare what the administration did here was unlawful,” he said.

Governor Wes Moore endorsed the filing and emphasized local voice. “Our people must be heard when the federal government makes decisions that affect their health, their safety, and their communities,” Moore said, adding that “DHS must be held to the same legal standard as every other federal agency.”

Federal officials pushed back in blunt terms. A DHS spokesperson characterized the case as political, saying, “Let’s be honest about this. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.” Washington County has taken a different administrative tack, saying the federal government did not need to seek local zoning approval and the county could not legally block the project.

ICE has been reported to be seeking contractors with a target to complete retrofit work by September 2026, if not sooner, a timeline that heightens urgency for Maryland’s requested court intervention. In Washington, four Democratic members of Congress have announced plans to introduce legislation that would require DHS to obtain written approval from state and local officials before constructing or operating any ICE processing facility or detention center.

Local opposition has already surfaced at rallies in nearby Hagerstown, where elected Democrats including Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative April McClain Delaney joined community protesters. The suit places a federal administrative fight into a broader political and local context, pitting state environmental and public‑health concerns against the federal government’s asserted authority to expand detention capacity. The court will now decide whether to freeze work and compel the environmental review Maryland says was skipped.