About Hagerstown Rapid Response
Hagerstown Rapid Response is a grassroots community network organizing against the proposed ICE detention facility planned for the Hagerstown/Williamsport area of Washington County, Maryland.
We started as neighbors, organizers, researchers, students, parents, workers, and concerned residents who believed our community deserved transparency, accountability, and a voice in decisions that could permanently reshape the region. Since then, Hagerstown Rapid Response has grown into a rapidly expanding coalition focused on public education, direct action, investigative research, and community mobilization.
Through public records requests, court document analysis, local organizing, protests, media outreach, and independent reporting, we work to uncover and document what is happening behind closed doors surrounding the proposed ICE warehouse project. Our reporting and research have been cited by journalists, shared nationally, and used to help communities better understand the environmental, financial, legal, and human impact of large-scale immigration detention infrastructure.
This Substack is where we publish:
Investigative findings and document analysis
Updates on lawsuits, hearings, and government actions
Protest and organizing information
Interviews and community perspectives
Commentary and rapid-response analysis
Resources for people fighting ICE detention expansion in their own communities
We believe communities deserve facts, transparency, and the ability to organize before decisions are made for them.
Whether you are local to Washington County or following the growing national fight over ICE detention expansion, welcome.
The fight against these facilities is not happening in isolation anymore. Neither are we.
Join the Fight
Be part of a community of people who share your interests. Participate in the comments section, or support this work with a subscription.
Recent Hagerstown Rapid Response Media Coverage:
The Rachel Maddow Show
NBC News
The Majority Report, with Sam Seder
Associated Press
The Jim Acosta Show
WRC-TV 4, NBC Washington, D.C.
WTTG-TV 5, FOX Washington, D.C.
WUSA-TV 9, CBS Washington, D.C.
WJLA-TV 7, ABC Washington, D.C.
DC News Now, Washington, D.C.
WBAL-TV 11, NBC Baltimore
WJZ-TV 13, CBS Baltimore
WMAR-TV 2, ABC Baltimore
WBFF-TV 45, FOX Baltimore
WBAL Radio
WYPR
The Real News Network
News2Share
Downtown Dialogue
The Baltimore Sun
HuffPost: Inside The ‘Rebel Alliance’ Fighting A Massive ICE Detention Center
NPR: ICE’s detention expansion meets resistance in communities across the political spectrum
The Intercept_: Protesting the Smash and Grab Presidency
