BALTIMORE, Md. – U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson on Thursday extended the stop-work order for the Williamsport warehouse until no later than April 16, by which time he anticipates a ruling on the State of Maryland’s request for a preliminary injunction against the project. The parties agreed to the extension in a joint scheduling order.
The decision bars any progress on renovations at the site just outside Williamsport, which the Department of Homeland Security purchased for $102.4 million. ICE awarded a $113 million contract to convert it into a facility for up to 1,500 immigration detainees, bringing the total federal commitment to $215 million.
The government sought clarification or limited relief from the existing restraining order but did not specify what activities they proposed to undertake at the property, leading Judge Hurson to decline to rule on the request and directing officials to file a formal motion detailing the proposed work.
The scheduled April hearing will provide the first full-court opportunity for the federal government to substantively defend the project. Per the judge’s briefing timeline, the state must promptly submit its preliminary injunction motion; the government’s response is due April 2, with the state’s reply brief due April 9.
Approval of a preliminary injunction would maintain the construction freeze for the duration of the lawsuit and require the judge to issue more definitive findings on the key legal claims, moving beyond the preliminary findings that supported the initial temporary order.
At issue is whether federal agencies complied with the National Environmental Policy Act by conducting an adequate environmental review before advancing the project. Maryland argues no proper review occurred.
In granting the original temporary restraining order, Judge Hurson found the state likely to succeed, citing the award of the renovation contract just one day after a brief public comment period ended, on the basis of a limited floodplain notice posted online. He determined this sequence did not demonstrate a genuine evaluation of environmental effects.
If Judge Herson grants the state’s request for a preliminary injunction next month, the federal government would have to either start the required environmental review process, which the current court order already allows even during the pause,
For the state and environmental groups that commented during the short public notice window, it preserves protections for local waterways, including Semple Run, Conococheague Creek and the Potomac River, as well as for state-listed endangered species in the watershed.
Washington County officials have publicly maintained that they lack authority to influence or stop the government’s plan to convert the warehouse into an immigration processing facility.
On Feb. 10, the commissioners unanimously passed a resolution expressing “full, unwavering support” for the DHS, pledging cooperation to enforce border security while “treating people with dignity and compassion.”
However Project Salt Box further reports that shortly after, the county sent a letter to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, attaching the resolution and requesting up to $381 million in federal funding tied to the project, such as widening I-81, upgrades for the Hagerstown Airport and renovating the sewer pump station near the warehouse site.
Project Salt Box is a Baltimore-based volunteer “citizen sleuth” group that uses public records, Freedom of Information Act requests and data analysis to track the expansion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities across the U.S.
These requests came despite the county’s repeated public stance that the matter was entirely federal and beyond local control, while privately detailing infrastructure shortfalls related to the project as justification to request massive federal aid.
