Controversy over Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans at a warehouse near Hagerstown, Maryland, moved to a Baltimore courtroom Wednesday.
A federal judge was scheduled to hear arguments on Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s motion to block renovation and construction of the building in Williamsport while the state’s lawsuit to block the entire project is litigated.
ICE is spending $113 million dollars to purchase and renovate the warehouse, and according to the lawsuit, moved forward with the project without required federal environmental reviews.
In the motion for a preliminary injunction, the attorney general’s office said that unless the judge pauses construction, “Defendants will undoubtedly resume their breakneck efforts to renovate, construct, and operate their planned detention facility without due regard for its impact on public health and the environment.”
When the suit was filed in February, ICE planned a detention center that could hold up to 1,500 detainees. The motion said the center would overwhelm the sewage and water systems in the town of 2,000 residents.
The warehouse currently receives drinking water from the City of Hagerstown via a two-inch domestic service line and has an approved allocation of 800 gallons per day.
“A detention facility providing 24/7 occupancy for up to 1,500 people is likely to need around 187,500 gallons per day of drinking water,” the motion said.
The warehouse is also served by an 8-inch sewer main.
“Once the facility becomes operational, sewage backups are likely both at the facility and throughout the area,” Brown said in the filing.
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