Use the form to submit a public comment and urge the Department of Homeland Security to abandon this project before it is too late. Submitting a comment opposing the opening of the ICE detention center in Washington County, Maryland will take two minutes or less.

You do not need to address every issue in your submission. A wide range of thoughtful comments highlighting different issues helps demonstrate the many ways this project could affect Washington County, and surrounding communities.

Residents in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania will be most directly impacted if the ICE detention center is opened, but anyone concerned with the environmental, infrastructure, and health impacts can and should submit a public comment.

Background

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is attempting to convert an 825,000-square-foot industrial warehouse in Washington County, Maryland into a massive ICE detention facility despite overwhelming environmental, infrastructure, and human rights concerns.

DHS began accepting public comments as part of the environmental review process.

This public comment period exists because the State of Maryland took DHS to court. In February 2026, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sued DHS after the agency attempted to move forward with the project without conducting the environmental review required by federal law. The lawsuit showed that DHS unlawfully fast-tracked the project while failing to adequately evaluate impacts on local waterways, wastewater systems, traffic, emergency services, public health, air quality, and surrounding communities.

Maryland has already won significant victories in court. A federal judge largely halted the project and forced DHS to begin the environmental review process it had previously attempted to avoid. As a result, DHS must now create a public record and consider public input before moving forward.

Every public comment submitted becomes part of that official record. Those comments can help demonstrate widespread opposition to the project, identify environmental and infrastructure concerns DHS must address, and strengthen the record that will be scrutinized throughout the ongoing legal battle.

The Environmental Impacts if the Facility Opens

One of the most serious environmental concerns associated with the proposed ICE detention warehouse is wastewater. The Maryland Department of the Environment estimates the facility would generate more than 187,000 gallons of wastewater per day. That wastewater has to go somewhere.

Washington County's sewer infrastructure is already at capacity, and increasing the current property's daily sewage output by over 234 times would overwhelming collection lines, pump stations, and treatment capacity. When sewer systems exceed their capacity, the result is sanitary sewer overflows, where untreated or partially treated sewage backs up into streets, properties, and waterways.

If sewage spills occur, they would not remain confined to the detention facility site. The area drains into local streams that ultimately connect to the Conococheague Creek, then flow down the Potomac River, and then the Chesapeake Bay, meaning contamination would move far beyond Washington County. Raw sewage releases would introduce bacteria, viruses, excess nutrients, and other pollutants into waterways, harming aquatic ecosystems, degrading water quality, and creating public health risks for downstream communities.

The environmental and health impacts associated with this proposed facility would affect communities throughout the Potomac watershed, including parts of Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. This would also affect southern Pennsylvania. Our recent blog post explains many of the ways this will affect these five states and the District of Columbia.

Before DHS adds an additional 187,000 gallons of wastewater per day to the system, the public deserves clear answers about whether the existing infrastructure can safely handle that volume, what upgrades would be required, who would pay for them, and what protections are in place to prevent sewage overflows into nearby streams and rivers.

This is one of the most important opportunities the public has had to influence the future of this project. The comments submitted now will become part of the administrative record DHS must consider before deciding whether to proceed.

We have a chance to make it clear that this detention facility is not welcome in Washington County and should never be allowed to open.

In response to our campaign Sierra Club Maryland Chapter, ACLU of Maryland, and NAACP of Washington County have come out and issued statements opposing the opening of the ICE detention center in Washington County, Maryland. Our campaign is also supported by the Detention Watch Network, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, every Indivisible chapter in Maryland, Indivisible chapters in every state in the US, the Maryland Coalition to Stop the Camps, Maryland High School Democrats, Cat Ladies for America, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and many more.

• June 30: Hagerstown Rapid Response and Washington County Indivisible Join ACLU-MD, NAACP Washington County, and Elected Officials to Submit Public Comment Opposing Proposed ICE Detention Center
• July 1: Maryland Attorney General Demands Environmental Studies, New Public Comment Period, and Suggests DHS Sell Washington County ICE Warehouse
• July 1: Sierra Club of Maryland Submits Public Comment Opposing the ICE Detention Center, "As three Maryland environmental agencies have warned, the impacts of this project would be significant and adverse to Williamsport, Hagerstown, and neighboring areas, and likely catastrophic with regard to its impacts on sewerage infrastructure and surrounding waterways. Given the insurmountable evidence regarding the significant impacts of this site, we urge DHS to immediately cancel its plans for a warehouse immigration detention and processing facility in Williamsport."

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