Gov. Moore blasts Trump administration for "disrespect" as ICE vows to open Maryland detention center
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Rep. McClain Delaney met with leaders in Washington County on Monday amid concerns about plans to establish an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center near Hagerstown.
During the roundtable on Monday, Gov. Moore and Rep. Delaney heard from community leaders.
State and local leaders began raising concerns after ICE confirmed that it bought a warehouse at 16220 Wright Road in Williamsport with the intent to turn it into a 1,500-person immigration detention center.
Several activists criticized Moore after they said they were excluded from the town hall.
The governor vowed to fight the Trump administration on the project, and Rep. McClain Delaney, who represents the area in Congress, demanded that the federal government allow her to tour the facility as part of her oversight duties.
What we know about the ICE detention facility
The federal government purchased more than 50 acres in Williamsport, including large warehouse space for more than $100 million. This is part of a larger push nationwide to house more of the people detained as part of the federal government's immigration crackdown.
Washington County commissioners have expressed support for the project, but Hagerstown's mayor has denounced it.
The city controls the water in the area.
The facility is expected to house as many as 1,500 people.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has sued the Trump administration, and a federal judge has temporarily halted construction until the middle of April.
Town hall concerns
Monday's town hall was open to the media for roughly 15 minutes before reporters and photographers were made to exit the room.
Outside, activists, including some who oppose the facility, claimed they were excluded.
"They said there were some leaders in the community here, but I'm not exactly sure who it was," said demonstrator Dawn Mathis, who held up a sign denouncing ICE. "We brought a lot of attention to this, and we should've had a voice in it."
Gov. Moore addressed the controversy after the town hall and told WJZ, "We had Democrats. We had Republicans in that room. There was a wide variety of opinions."
The governor said the town hall "was not an exercise to try to validate something. This was to listen, to learn, to hear the opinions of local leaders and of local community members, and then being able to take that and establish not just how the state is going to respond, but then how do we think about a unified response to what we are seeing as executive overreach."
Moore, Delaney lay out opposition
The governor had strong words for President Trump on Monday.
He accused the administration of keeping him in the dark about ICE plans for the property.
"This is just continuing to show the level of disrespect and the lack of transparency that we've seen from this Trump-Vance administration," Moore told those invited to attend the town hall.
"It's not just a violation of the law that they are doing, it's a violation of humanity. It's a violation of any type of coordination between our federal and our state officials, and we're just asking for the Trump-Vance administration to do better," the governor said.
Rep. McClain Delaney demanded a tour of the facility and decried the lack of public involvement in the project and the possible environmental impact.
"A detention center of this size plans to operate with just four commercial toilets. Four! That is not a minor oversight. It's a failure of human dignity," McClain Delaney said.
Trump administration responds
In a statement to WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson said, "The Hagerstown facility has undergone community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase."
ICE responded to allegations by some top Maryland Democrats, including the governor, who said the facility will hamper economic impact.
"The Hagerstown, Maryland, facility and its construction are expected to bring 1,125 jobs to the area and would contribute $120.6 million in GDP. It's also projected to bring in about $28.2 million in tax revenue," the spokesperson noted.
ICE also said, "DHS aims to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history."
The agency listed cases involving several undocumented immigrants they claim were involved in illegal activity in Maryland.
"These economic benefits don't even take into account that removing criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers," the agency said in its statement. "ICE is targeting criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and more. 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities."
But activists like Dawn Mathis said they will keep fighting.
"I have a little bit of hope because they told us in the beginning that there was nothing we could do, that the warehouse was already purchased, and we're making headway right now," Mathis said.
Work temporarily paused
Last week, a federal judge extended an order temporarily halting work at the facility after an emergency motion filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. The judge indicated that he plans to hear arguments over the detention center in mid April.
In early March, AG Brown filed a lawsuit claiming that ICE and DHS failed to conduct an environmental review of the project or allow for public comment.
The lawsuit further claimed that DHS and ICE are disregarding federal law while moving quickly to implement a nationwide agenda.
ICE has not responded to a request for a comment on the lawsuit.
