ICE facility construction halted

A federal judge on April 15 ordered the federal government to stop retrofitting a Western Maryland warehouse into an immigration detention center while Maryland’s lawsuit moves ahead. (wypr.org) Judge Brendan Hurson said the state had shown enough risk of environmental harm to justify a preliminary injunction at the Williamsport site, near Hagerstown. The order blocks most work on the roughly 820,000-square-foot building, which Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to use for as many as 1,500 detainees. (wypr.org) The case turns on a basic question of process: whether the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement completed the environmental reviews and public steps required before pushing ahead. Maryland sued on February 23, arguing the agencies skipped obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. (oag.maryland.gov) Those reviews matter because the state says the warehouse sits in a flood plain and could strain local sewer and water systems if hundreds of people are held there. WYPR reported the site has four toilets, and state lawyers argued a nearby pumping station could not handle detention-center demand. (wypr.org) The project moved fast before the lawsuit. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought the property in January for about $102 million to $102.4 million and then awarded a $113 million construction contract to KVG LLC. (nbcwashington.com, thedailyrecord.com, usnews.com) Hurson had already issued a temporary restraining order on March 11, then extended it through April 16 before converting it into a longer-lasting injunction this week. He still allowed limited work tied to protecting the building, including heating and cooling repairs, security cameras, lighting, fiber optic cables and an 8-foot fence. (oag.maryland.gov, nbcwashington.com) In court, federal lawyers said the government had done community-impact work and due diligence before buying the warehouse. But NBC Washington reported that when the judge asked who performed those studies, Justice Department lawyers did not provide specifics. (nbcwashington.com) The dispute is also part of a larger federal detention push. The Associated Press reported the Maryland warehouse is one of 11 industrial buildings bought nationwide, and one of the first that officials hoped to open as Homeland Security reviews a broader plan to hold detainees in converted warehouses. (usnews.com) Maryland officials cast the ruling as a check on a rushed federal project, while the Department of Homeland Security said it “strongly disagrees” and argued the fight is really about blocking President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. For now, the warehouse can be secured, but it cannot be turned into a detention center until the case is decided. (oag.maryland.gov, usnews.com)