Doctors Warn ICE Facility Could Endanger Entire Hagerstown Community

An Open Letter from Washington County Health Care Providers

To Whom it May Concern:

As health care providers, we are writing to express concerns regarding the planned conversion of a warehouse to a Department of Homeland Security detention facility for up to 1500 detainees in Washington County.

Firstly, conditions inside DHS detention centers are a set up for significant impacts to individual and public health. According to DHS itself, in a report from September of 2024, in the majority of detention facilities “we found instances of non-compliance with medical care standards, like dental and chronic care, and medical staffing.” A significant proportion of the facilities’ living conditions “violated... standards related to environmental health and safety, like sanitation of bathrooms and housing facilities” (1). Since then, the number of detainees in ICE custody has nearly doubled, leading to multiple reports of deteriorating conditions including overcrowding, poor food quality, inadequate temperature control, and insufficient sinks and toilets (2). Some detainees have described overflowing toilets with floors flooded with feces and urine-contaminated water (3).

Crowded and squalid conditions will dramatically increase the risk of both airborne and fecal-oral borne diseases. This has already caused outbreaks of influenza, COVID, mumps, and hepatitis A in detention facilities. More recently, DHS facilities have seen outbreaks of mumps and measles (4). There has even been an increase in reported cases of tuberculosis in these facilities (5). In addition to causing misery and threat to life of the detainees, there is no guarantee that communicable diseases will stay confined to the detention facility. Security, custodial, and medical staff are all likely to come into contact with the microbes that cause these illnesses, and subsequently bring them into the community.

Secondly, emergency services capacity is another important consideration. Facilities of this size require reliable access to medical care, including emergency departments and ambulance services. One study showed an average of 68 events per detention center per year with average population of the detention center being 775; therefore, one can extrapolate about 135 events per year for a facility of 1500 detainees (6). A review of 911 calls from ten ICE facilities in the first half of 2025 revealed nearly 400 calls to emergency services (7). Incidents such as fire or disease outbreaks could increase this number drastically. However, the nearest EMS department has only eight volunteer paramedics. The Meritus Hospital Emergency Department already struggles to see patients in a timely manner, and the presence of such a large facility will adversely impact emergency medical care for residents of the county (8).

Finally, detention settings also carry documented mental health implications, especially for children. A huge study of almost 5000 children showed that the risk of depression, anxiety, PTSD and developmental delays was at least 3 times higher than the general population among detained children. Prolonged detention resulted in PTSD rates above 90%, and self-harm and suicide attempts were also significantly increased (9). “Psychological science is clear: detention, deportation, family separation, and the constant threat of such actions create chronic stress that increases anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, and long-term health risks. These harms are especially severe for children, whose emotional development depends on stable and secure caregiving relationships,” said APA CEO Dr. Arthur Evans, Jr. (10).

There has been very little information forthcoming from DHS and the Washington County Board of County Commissioners. The Maryland Attorney General is now suing DHS over the lack of environmental review. Given the track record of unsanitary conditions and poor health care in other detention facilities as described above, as well as the lack of transparency from the federal and local government, one must assume that conditions at the Williamsport facility will be as bad or worse than reported at existing DHS detention centers.

In summary, the conversion of a warehouse in Williamsport to a DHS facility poses significant impacts to the physical and mental health of detainees, as well as heath threats to the community through communicable diseases and strain on emergency services. With the health of our community as our foremost concern, we as healthcare providers in Washington County oppose the construction of this facility.

Respectfully,

Jennifer Janus, MD

Victoria Giffi, MD

Wendy Betah, DNP, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC

Jonathan Caldera Colon, MD

Heather Dorius, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C

Christopher Larrimore, DO

Seemal Awan, MD

Andrew Ditto, DO

Teresa Dumpe MS, RN, CRNP

Christine Feathers CRNP

Jeannette Sweitzer CRNP AMC

Helen Harrington DO

Milay Luis Lam MD

James Schiro MD

Tara Rumbarger MD

Karl Riggle MD

Erin Donoghue PA-C

Martha A Riggle MD

Sarah Lincoln PA-C

Jason Lincoln PA-C

Kiran Khosa MD

Oliver Chen MD

Christopher Vaccari MD

Samina Anwar MD

Susan Womeldorf MD

Michael O’Donoghue MD

Merih O’Donoghue MD

Maria Merzouk DO

Rachelle Fischer FNP-C, CPNP-PC

Catherine Feaga DO

Brian Bonham MD

McKenzie Sorrell DO

Mohammed Z. Ali MD

Mohammed Bilgrami MD

Chris Gauthier DO

Pegah Zare MD

Kelsey Thrush DO

Susanna Goheen MD

Joshua Similuk DO

Erin Foutch, MSN, CRNP

Shaju Shamsuddin MD

Ashima Saini MD

Mahin Khan MD

Charles Brandon Mitchell MD

Scott P Worrell MD

Adjoavi Andele MD

Saba Aziz MD

Victoria Gonsorcik DO

Chintamaneni Choudari MD

Anand Saha MD

Michael Costello MD

Taylor James PA-C

Bryan Peralta NP-C

Jasmine Gulati DO

Adeba Kannsin MD

Stephanie Maxsell PA-C

Leona Leung, MD.

Donna Lofton CNM

(1) https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-09/OIG-24-59-Sep24.pdf

(2) https://factually.co/fact-checks/justice/conditions-in-ice-detention-

facilities-5166.ed

(3) https://www.aclu.org/news/ immigrants-rights/detained-immigrants-detailphysical-

abuse-and-inhumane-conditions-at-largest-immigration-detentioncenter-

in-the-u-s

(4) https://statnews.com/2026/02/04/measles-outbreak-immigration-detentioncenter-

preventable/

(5) https://san.com/cc/tb-is-spreading-in-ice-detention-centers-so-whats-theagencys-

responsibility/

(6) Dekker AM, Farah J, Parmar P, Uner AB, Schriger DL. Emergency Medical Responses

at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Centers in California. JAMA

Netw Open. 2023 Nov 1;6(11):e2345540.

(7) https://www.wired.com/story/ice-detention-center-911-emergencies/

(8) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-025-02832-4#Tab1

(9) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-025-02832-

4?utm_source=chatgpt.com

(10) https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/09/mental-health-immigrationenforcement

Signatories to this letter are expressing their individual views as healthcare providers.

These views do not represent the positions or policies of their respective employers or

affiliated institutions.