A federal judge has issued an injunction preventing ICE from moving ahead with plans to turn a warehouse in Maryland into migrant detention space, the state’s attorney general said Wednesday.
Judge Brendan Hurson, a Biden appointee, had previously issued a restraining order, saying the facility could strain local resources. During a hearing Tuesday, he upgraded his order to a preliminary injunction, which blocks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from acting while the lawsuit proceeds.
The only exception is for security and repair work to keep the warehouse in good shape.
“Today’s preliminary injunction is a major victory that stops federal authorities from irreversibly damaging our waterways, our environment, and our communities before our lawsuit is even decided,” said state Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat.
The warehouse is in Williamsport and was supposed to handle up to 1,500 beds. ICE spent more than $100 million to obtain the property.
Mr. Brown said in his lawsuit that the facility of that size could overwhelm the local community’s resources. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality, for example, said this week that existing sewer facilities couldn’t handle the detention capacity ICE envisioned.
DEQ said the county’s current sewer plan was also outdated and must be revised before it can allocate new sewer resources.
ICE has moved to convert warehouses in several locations, and lawsuits are also pending in New Jersey and Michigan.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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