DHS Finally Admits Hagerstown ICE Facility Is a Detention Center as Tribal and Environmental Reviews Continue

Federal officials are now acknowledging the proposed Washington County, MD ICE facility requires a formal Environmental Assessment and additional tribal consultation before moving forward.

A newly obtained DHS email is shedding new light on the proposed ICE facility in Washington County, Maryland, and the language inside it directly contradicts months of softer public messaging surrounding the project.

While the subject line of the email refers to the site as the “ICE Baltimore Processing Facility,” DHS officials internally describe it as the “proposed ICE detention center at 10900 Hopewell Road in Hagerstown, Maryland.”

That distinction matters because officials have repeatedly relied on terms like “processing facility” when discussing the project publicly, even as residents and advocates warned the warehouse was being developed into a large-scale detention operation.

The email also reveals that the project is still facing unresolved tribal consultation issues under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. According to DHS, one tribe requested additional information related to ground disturbance impacts, and ICE is now awaiting final design details from its contractor before continuing consultation.

At the same time, DHS says ICE has now determined the project requires a formal Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act due to the “scope of potential impacts associated with the proposed undertaking.”

That means the federal government is acknowledging the project may carry significant environmental and community impacts requiring deeper review and future public engagement.

Taken together, the email shows the proposed Hagerstown-area ICE detention center is still far from finalized and remains under growing environmental, cultural, and public scrutiny.