(Bloomberg) — The state of Maryland has filed a lawsuit to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from turning a warehouse into an immigration detention facility.
DHS paid more than $100 million in January for a commercial warehouse near Williamsport, Maryland, as part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to dramatically expand its detention capacity. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could potentially use up to two dozen such locations around the country as “megacenters” for immigration detention.
The Williamsport facility is to have 1,500 beds, according to the lawsuit filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown.
“Defendants have violated federal law and trampled on state interests,” Brown wrote in his effort for the project.
Spokesmen for DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Maryland lawsuit.
Brown accused the government of breaking federal law by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project and consider alternatives. Construction could negatively impact local waterways and wildlife, Brown said, and the facility could overwhelm sewer lines once fully operational.
The site could also lead to traffic congestion, an increased burden on law enforcement and emergency services, Brown said. The attorney general also pointed to the risk of disease outbreaks and sanitation concerns based on reported conditions at other ICE facilities.
Maryland is asking a federal judge to vacate the warehouse purchase and declare the agencies’ actions illegal. Brown is seeking an injunction to halt any construction or remodeling of the facility that is already underway.
Arizona lawmakers are delaying similar plans to rebuild an ICE warehouse west of Phoenix. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Democrat, said in a post on social media platform X that the acquisition of the building in Surprise, Arizona, did not go through the normal procurement process involving the Government Services Administration.
“They didn’t tell anybody they were doing this,” Stanton said, “and they paid cash for this facility.”
The case is Maryland v. Noem, 26-cv-00733, U.S. District Court, Maryland.
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