Judge extends order blocking Washington County immigration detention center work by ICE

A federal judge extended his order Thursday blocking work on a Washington County warehouse that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to turn into an immigrant detention center to house up to 1,500 people.

U.S. District Court Judge Brendan Hurson’s order Thursday extends for another four weeks a prior temporary restraining order that was sought by Maryland, which has sued to block the detention center project. The latest order is designed to give Hurson time to hear from attorneys for the state and federal governments, before making a ruling no later than April 16.

Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) filed a request for a preliminary injunction Thursday to stop the Trump administration from doing work on the warehouse while the case continues to be heard.

Brown filed a suit last month against ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for its “unlawful decision” to build the warehouse near Williamsport, a town of just 2,000 residents.

ICE wants more time to address environmental concerns at proposed Pa. detention centers

The lawsuit claims ICE bought the warehouse without required environmental reviews — the warehouse is near Sample Run, a tributary of Conocoheague Creek, which feeds into the Potomac River. Several state-designated endangered species live in the watershed, according to the suit. The suit also charges that federal officials have proceeded without public notice and without any discussions with state or local officials.

Since buying the 825,000-square-foot facility in January, ICE has moved “with unrelenting speed” on the project and last Friday awarded a $113 million contract to KVG LLC of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, “to immediately retrofit the warehouse” into this massive immigration detention facility.

The judge’s order Thursday comes about a week after his March 11 emergency order to stop the federal government from “proceeding with renovation and/or construction activities required to build, retrofit, or otherwise convert the Williamsport Warehouse … into an immigration detention facility.”

That emergency order came a day after Brown filed a lawsuit to force ICE to turn over documents the state seeks as part of its investigation of “unlawful conditions” at the immigrant holding facility at the George H. Fallon Building in downtown Baltimore.

Those conditions include allegations of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and lack of medical care, among other claims. But ICE has refused to turn over documents, “relying on boilerplate objections that the requested material is burdensome, overbroad, or irrelevant,” according to the state’s lawsuit.