ICE detention facility in Western MD: Judge orders halt to construction

A federal judge ordered Wednesday for the Trump administration to halt construction on a proposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Western Maryland amid a lawsuit seeking to stop the project.

Issuing his ruling from the bench before a gallery packed with protesters, U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson granted Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering the federal government to halt any retrofitting of the 825,620-square-foot warehouse near Hagerstown into an immigration detention facility until further notice. 

Hurson permitted the Trump administration to install certain security features, such as an 8-foot fence and surveillance cameras, to protect the facility. 

Brown’s lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration bypassed the environmental review process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates such studies before federal construction projects. The law allows projects to be exempt based on certain “categorical exclusions” — activities that normally don’t have significant effects on the environment. 

Hurson found that the exemptions cited by the Trump administration were “contrary to both the text and spirit of the exclusions themselves.” 

“I think that it’s kind of hard to even pass the laugh test … that the transformation of a logistics warehouse into a detention center is the type of project that would apply or would be eligible for categorical exclusions,” Hurson said. 

His ruling followed a two-hour Baltimore hearing in which he grilled Department of Justice attorneys about assessments performed by the Trump administration prior to it spending over $100 million to buy the warehouse.

The attorneys, Sean C. Duffy and Hayley A. Carpenter, had argued that the federal government only seeks to perform work on “a limited number of things” until it conducts further environmental reviews — but they were unable to answer several questions from Hurson about studies the Trump administration had conducted before the purchase.

“It sounds to me like in this situation, things went completely backwards,” Hurson said while Duffy and Carpenter presented their case.

Brown, a Democrat, said in a Wednesday statement that Hurson’s ruling was a “major victory” that stops the federal government from “irreversibly damaging” the local environment while the lawsuit is pending. He said that the decision “ensures that the federal government cannot rush through the legal process required to open this facility in its frenzy to carry out its deportation goals.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a fellow Democrat, echoed Brown’s sentiment, adding that the ruling “shows that no one is above the law.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency “strongly disagree[s]” with the order.

“This isn’t about the environment,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe.” It continues that “the left” was “feigning concern now because they want to obstruct the President from removing dangerous criminals.”

The state sued then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in February. Hurson, who was appointed in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden, issued a 14-day pause on the project, citing concerns about the environmental impacts of the renovation in a temporary restraining order.

Later, after President Donald Trump ousted Noem from her position, the federal government said in a court filing that ICE was “reconsidering the plans and scope of the warehouse” and would not engage in construction without further analysis required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Justice Department attorneys wrote that the Trump administration only authorized the facility to hold 542 people, though ICE “is considering expanding capacity at the facility to up to 1,500 detainees eventually” following more improvements.

Carpenter said the Trump administration had already completed an environmental and historic preservation review, citing a DHS record stating that every stage of that process was completed Jan. 15 — the day before the agency purchased the warehouse.

Joking that the purported timeline showed “some serious government efficiency,” Hurson pressed Carpenter on whether it “takes just one day” to do such a review.

“I can’t say that I’m immediately … experienced with the exact quote that you’re talking about,” she replied.

“That’s the first page,” Hurson replied, later adding that it appeared the review “didn’t seem to inform the decision to buy the property at all.” He repeatedly asked Justice Department attorneys for details about how they came to the conclusions in the review but received few answers.

Carpenter said at the conclusion of her arguments that the federal government only had to prove its exemptions from the environmental analysis law were not arbitrary and capricious, which is “very much a low bar.”

“It is a very low bar,” Hurson said. “And quite frankly, you may not have cleared it.”

Hurson’s order requires the Trump administration to stop construction “until further notice” while the remainder of the lawsuit plays out. Duffy, an attorney at the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division, had conceded during the hearing that the DHS had “come to the conclusion” it should conduct an additional environmental analysis before retrofitting the building.

“We have a sworn declaration that’s committed them to doing that,” he said. “They don’t take that lightly.”

Hurson replied that “if that’s the case, then it seems to me that we could work something out” — but in the form of an agreement or “more than just a sort of pinky promise.”

In the meantime, both parties are leveraging administrative actions. On Monday, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued an administrative order to the Washington County Board of Commissioners requiring the county to update its water and sewer plan to account for the projected demand of the proposed facility — a process that could take months or years. And earlier this month, the White House issued new guidance making it easier for federal agencies to obtain categorical exemptions from environmental analyses.

This story has been updated.