Sign of a Protester in Monument Square, Portland, on Saturday, Jauary 24, 2026.
ICE has filed no permits, made no water request and disclosed no plan for sustaining 1,500 detainees in a building allocated 800 gallons of water a day according to a report from the non-profit Project Salt Box, (PSB) issued today. Excerpts of this detailed report follow below:
By way of background according to “PSB” on January 16, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security paid $102.4 million in cash for an 825,620 – square foot logistics wrehouse on Wright Road in Washington County, Maryland. The purchase closed without public notice, without environmental review and without consulation with state or local authorities.
The Department’s plan is to convert the building into a detention facility for 1,500 immigrants. The warehouse currently has four toilets, two water fountains and an 800-gallon-a-day water allocation. A facility housing 1,500 people requires an estimted 209,000 gallons a day and no one knows where it will come from. The Agency failed to consult with any of the local agencies nor apply for any construction permits that state law requires for activity with a 100-year flood plain — and portions of the Wright Road property fall within one according to PSB.
Hagerstown is the sole water supplier for Williamsport. Wright Road lies outside the city’s municipal limits, but inside its designated growth arrea, which means any significant increase in water allocation requires approval from the Hagerstown mayor and council — a step that follows a formal application, engineering review and fl upfront payment for any infrastructure work. None of that process has begun according to a city spokesperson.
And the existing sprinkler system, engineered for a warehouse, may not meet code requirements for a residential occupancy of 1,500 people; that determination falls to the state fire marshall. That review has not been requested either. The drilling of a private well was dismissed as well because Maryland environmental rules generally bar properties within reasonable distance of a public water system from drilling their own supply.
On the matter of sewage, the Maryland Department of the Environment projects it would generate more than 187,000 gallons a day of wastewater — more than seven times the effluent load from its prior commerial use. The sewer line serving Wright Road was not built for that volulme. It has been speculated what happens if capacity is exceeded. The expected outcome, is: “sewage backups and overflows, posing public health risks to the facility’s residents, agents and the neighboring community,” No permit applications for sewer upgrades have been filed with the state.
Sewage is not the only padthway downsream. ICE’s own floodplain notice acknowledges that stormwter from the property drains into S emple Run, which feeds into Conococheague Crook, which empties ito the Potomac River, and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland has spent tens of millions of dollars on Potomac watershed restoration over the past decade, including an actibe program to propagate and reintroduce “same species” to the River.
In summary, Maryland AG Anthony Brown has filed a suit in federal court, arguing in Maryland v. Noem that ICE violated the National Environmental Policy Act by bypassing environmental review and the Administrative Procedure Act by circumventing required federal procedures. The case is pending. Additionallly, the project has not paused to wait for the resolution of the case. In recent weeks, a large fleet of government vehicles arrived at Wright Road, reportedly transferred from enforcement operations in the midwest and has been written about herein previously.
For more background information on the new Maryland Detention Center, please visit two posts herein on March 1, 2026.