HAGERSTOWN, Md. – More than 3,000 public comments have been submitted opposing a proposed immigration detention center in Williamsport as the federal environmental review period draws to a close, organizers leading a campaign against the project said.
The comment period, which stems from a federal review process required after litigation challenged the project’s approval, ends on July 1.
According to a press release from Hagerstown Rapid Response and Washington County Indivisible, the campaign generated more than 3,000 comments focused on potential environmental, infrastructure and public health impacts associated with conversion of the 825,000-square-foot warehouse in Williamsport into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center capable of housing up to 1,500 detainees.
Department of Homeland Security documents estimate the facility would generate nearly 187,000 gallons of wastewater per day, which would impact a network of connected waterways that ultimately runs all the way to the ocean.
The environmental review process was initiated after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sued DHS earlier in April, arguing the agency failed to comply with federal environmental review requirements before advancing the project.
As a result, DHS agreed to conduct an environmental review and opened a 30-day public comment period.
“We view this public comment period as significant because it only exists because legal action forced DHS to slow down and comply with environmental review requirements,” campaign organizers said.
Opposition organizers said one of their primary concerns involves wastewater infrastructure and the ability of existing systems to handle the facility’s projected wastewater output.
They argue that any sewer overflows or wastewater failures could affect waterways beyond Washington County because Semple Run feeds into Conococheague Creek, which eventually reaches the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The opposition has also called out DHS for refusing to publicly release the environmental reports the agency says it relied upon when concluding that it was “not aware of any potential for significant environmental impacts” associated with the project.
DHS records indicate those materials include wastewater and water infrastructure assessments, environmental site studies, floodplain information and documentation related to wetlands, cultural resources and protected species.
“DHS is asking the public to comment on the environmental impacts of this project while withholding some of the very information it relied upon to reach its conclusions,” Dalton Lee of Hagerstown Rapid Response said.
Organizers also point to previous environmental concerns in the Conococheague Creek watershed, including the detection of toxic cyanobacteria in 2024 that prompted public health advisories.
Those past issues, they say, do not necessarily mean the detention center would create future water-quality problems, but raise a flag that the project’s huge projected increase in wastewater volume warrants more scrutiny and more public access to the studies Homeland Security used in its environmental review.
According to campaign organizers, the Washington County proposal is one of four large warehouse detention-center projects that DHS continues to pursue nationwide after abandoning several other proposed sites.
DHS has not announced when a final decision on the Washington County proposal will be made following the close of the public comment period.
