Order to halt work at proposed Maryland ICE detention center extended

A court order that halted work at a proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Washington County, Maryland, has been extended by at least another week. 

A federal judge initially granted the temporary restraining order in early March, which immediately halted work at a warehouse near Hagerstown that was purchased by ICE to be turned into an immigration detention center. 

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown filed the emergency motion on March 11, asking the court to halt work for 14 days. The initial order was set to expire next week, on March 25. 

In the order, U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson said he plans to hear arguments over the detention center in mid-April. 

WJZ has reached out to ICE and DHS for a statement. 

In early March, Brown also filed a lawsuit against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prevent construction after ICE bout the facility. 

"These will not be warehouses — they will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards," ICE said in a statement. "Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space." 

In his lawsuit, Brown claimed that DHS and ICE did not conduct an environmental review of the project to provide an opportunity for public feedback. 

"We're asking the court to halt construction and operation of this facility," Brown said. "We're asking the court to require a proper environmental review with full public input, and we're asking the court to declare that what the administration did here was unlawful."

Brown's lawsuit alleges that the detention center will be capable of holding 1,500 detainees. 

"This facility alone would nearly match the town's entire population," the lawsuit read.