Maryland Sues Trump Administration Over Proposed Warehouse Detention Center

The state of Maryland filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday to stop the conversion of a warehouse into a detention facility in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The suit is the first from a state over the Department of Homeland Security’s warehouse plans, and could provide a blueprint for other states looking to prevent the federal agency from expanding its mass detention campaign.

“The Trump Administration will stop at nothing to pursue its extreme immigration agenda —- including breaking the law,” Attorney General Anthony G. Brown wrote in a statement Monday following the filing in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. “DHS purchased this facility while keeping the State and the public in the dark.”

DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE acting head Todd Lyons are listed as plaintiffs in the suit.

The lawsuit alleges the administration did not conduct necessary federal environmental assessments before purchasing the warehouse. It points to the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires an environmental review whenever “there is a major federal action” that would significantly affect the “quality of the human environment.” The lawsuit warns of potential impacts the facility could have on the area’s waterways, wildlife and aquatic species, air quality, traffic, and public health and safety.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DHS purchased the warehouse, a commercial facility just outside of Williamsport, in January for over $102.4 million. According to the suit, ICE intends the warehouse to hold 1,500 beds, with anticipated completion in September. Per the filing, the warehouse has only two water fountains and four toilets.

“Our people must be heard when the federal government makes decisions that affect their health, their safety, and their communities,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who sent a letter to Noem regarding the facility earlier this month, said in a statement. “DHS spent more than $100 million in taxpayer money to purchase a Washington County warehouse to serve as an ICE detention facility — without an environmental review and without public input.”

The governor has been in an ongoing feud with President Donald Trump following a massive wastewater spill in the Potomac River, which the president blamed on Moore and other local officials, who in turn said Trump was lying. Earlier in February, Trump initially excluded Moore and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis from the invitations to a White House meeting with the National Governors Association.

The lawsuit states that while DHS has previously reviewed the environmental impacts of constructing a detention facility, it has not continued to do so during its push to purchase warehouses over the past year.

As the Trump administration rapidly expands its network of detention facilities, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have struggled with how to respond, often hearing about them through constituents. Earlier this month, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes warned DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a letter that she was considering suing the Trump administration over plans to convert a warehouse in the state into a 1,500-bed detention center.

“As Arizona’s top law enforcement officer, I have authority to compel the abatement of activities considered a public nuisance,” Mayes wrote in the letter.

Rep. April McClain Delaney, who represents the district the Hagerstown warehouse is in, told NOTUS in January that she was working to push back on the proposed warehouse conversion in her district.

“It’s just too many abuses,” Delaney said. The proposed warehouse “is a huge issue for everyone in my district and I’ve really been focused on it because these immigration policies are impacting us economically, politically and just as people.”