by Kate Shunney
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland has issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) immediately pausing any construction or retrofitting of a warehouse near Williamsport, Maryland into a mass detention center for immigrants whose legal status is in question.
On February 23, 2026, Maryland Attorney General Brown filed a lawsuit against DHS and ICE challenging the purchase and planned conversion of a warehouse near Williamsport, Maryland in violation of federal administrative and environmental law.
On March 10, 2026, Attorney General Brown filed an emergency motion asking the court to immediately pause construction for up to 14 days while the court considers the State’s broader legal challenge. Today, the Court granted the emergency motion.
The motion comes after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded a construction contract on March 6, 2026 to begin renovation of the property – the latest step in a project that has proceeded in defiance of federal environmental law.
The motion asks the court to pause construction for up to 14 days while the court considers the State’s broader legal challenge.
“Today’s emergency motion argues that once construction begins, the damage cannot be undone. The warehouse sits adjacent to Semple Run, a stream that feeds into the Conococheague Creek and ultimately the Potomac River – waterways that are home to state-protected and endangered species. Construction activity is likely to cause sediment runoff and pollution to those waters, and the facility’s existing sewer and water infrastructure is wholly insufficient to support a detention center of this size, greatly increasing the risk of inhumane conditions seen at other detention centers throughout the country and here in Maryland. A pause in construction would allow the court time to weigh the State’s full legal challenge before any irreversible harm occurs,” the state’s attorneys argued.
AG Brown says that the motion seeks to “protect Maryland’s natural resources, public health and safety, and the right of Maryland communities to have a voice in decisions that affect them.”
Washington County’s Board of Commissioners have issued proclamations in support of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security since it was announced that the federal agencies purchased the Williamsport property.
Opponents of the using the industrial warehouses to detain people awaiting the resolution of their immigration status is not a humane way to treat people facing civil, not criminal charges.
Some have noted that the stated plans of the federal government, to hold up to 1,500 people in the Williamsport detention center would make the 825,000 square-ft. warehouse a facility holding nearly the population of the town itself.
