HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) \u2014 Horns blared and protesters screamed \u201cStop ICE!\u201d outside a meeting on the western edge of Maryland where county officials were discussing mundane issues like the solid waste budget. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been like this ever since the Department of Homeland Security<\/a> bought an 825,000-square-foot (76,645-square-meter) building in Washington County as part of a plan to transform warehouses<\/a> across the U.S. into detention facilities for tens of thousands of immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a facility built for packages, not people,\u201d Patrick Dattilio, the founder of an anti- Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> group called Hagerstown Rapid Response, said as he stood outside the county commission meeting. <\/p>\n The federal government has faced fierce opposition in communities<\/a> where it spent a total of $1.074 billion for 11 warehouses under a plan that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/a> is reviewing. Washington County is the most welcoming community \u2014 a place where officials said they supported ICE, albeit amid whistles and jeers. The processing center there was supposed to be one of the first to open in a facilities project hatched under Mullin\u2019s predecessor, Kristi Noem.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: Protesters rally against planned Maryland immigration detention facility that\u2019s now paused\n <\/p>\n AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on how new ICE detention centers across the U.S. are not sitting well with residents.<\/p>\n But now DHS\u2019 plan for the Washington County building is paused \u2014 mired in a court battle like some of the other warehouse-to-detention projects across the U.S. Questions swirl about whether Mullin will move ahead with the facilities project or chart another course as he pursues President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda.<\/p>\n County commissioners proclaimed their \u2018unwavering support\u2019 for ICE<\/p>\n The sprawling blue-and-white warehouse in Washington County has been the subject of intense debate in part because of the way commissioners voiced their support for ICE.<\/p>\n While repeatedly insisting that their hands were tied because the federal government already bought the building, the commissioners also approved a proclamation<\/a> during their Feb. 10 meeting declaring their \u201cunwavering support\u201d for DHS and ICE.<\/p>\n The proclamation, which didn\u2019t specifically mention the warehouse purchase, was met with so much booing and yelling that the commission president cleared the room. <\/p>\n The county wanted something, too. It forwarded the proclamation to Noem the next day in an email identifying hundreds of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of sewer, airport and highway upgrades that it said were needed, according to a public records request received by local resident Ethan Wechtaluk, who\u2019s running for Congress in the district that includes the warehouse.<\/p>\n ICE, flush with cash from a massive congressional appropriation<\/a>, has since signed a contract worth $113 million<\/a> to renovate the building for 500 to 1,500 detainees, but a judge temporarily halted work after Maryland\u2019s attorney general sued. A hearing is scheduled for April 15.<\/p>\n County commissioners did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment. County administrator Michelle Gordon in a statement said the commissioners were declining all interview requests.<\/p>\n Many residents of the county \u2014 a place Civil War buffs come to visit the Antietam battlefield before making their way to nearby Gettysburg \u2014 are outraged both because they have moral objections to the facility and because they didn\u2019t find out<\/a> about the purchase beforehand.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had no voice in this,\u201d Carroll Sager said over the din of protesters and honking cars. Behind her, the sheriff\u2019s department had cordoned off part of the county building with crime scene tape to deter protesters. Two deputies watched the demonstrators.<\/p>\n During the meeting, Sager sat quietly, holding a sign that read: \u201cDisenfranchised in Washington County.\u201d <\/p>\n Other communities across the US have also balked at DHS\u2019 plans<\/p>\n The pushback in other communities<\/a> has included a New Jersey lawsuit that alleges an \u201cutter lack of communication\u201d and a lawsuit in Michigan questioning why DHS didn\u2019t look at using empty state prisons. Officials in Salt Lake City and Pennsylvania have threatened to withhold or limit water. In Georgia, the town of Social Circle placed a lock on the water meter at a warehouse DHS purchased.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, questions also have come up about how much DHS paid for some warehouses. It paid double what the New Jersey warehouse was valued at in tax records and nearly five times more than the assessed value of the Social Circle warehouse. <\/p>\n Mullin was pressed during his confirmation hearing about whether he would continue Noem\u2019s policy of turning these warehouses into detention facilities. Without committing to anything, Mullin said the department wanted to \u201cbe good partners\u201d with communities.<\/p>\n Days after he was sworn in, DHS paused the purchase of new warehouses<\/a> intended to house immigrants. It\u2019s scrutinizing all contracts signed under Noem.<\/p>\n The federal government also said in a recent court filing in Maryland\u2019s lawsuit that \u201cICE is reconsidering the plans and scope of the warehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n