Join Us Tuesday: Tell the Washington County Commissioners No to an ICE Detention Warehouse and Data Centers

Three public hearings. Major questions about water, sewer, and infrastructure. Join us as we demand the same transparency for the proposed ICE detention center and future data centers.

This Tuesday, July 21, at 9:00 a.m., we’ll gather outside the Washington County Commissioners meeting at 100 W. Washington Street in Hagerstown to continue our fight against the proposed ICE detention warehouse in Williamsport.

For months, the Washington County Commissioners have refused to allow public comment about the ICE detention warehouse during their meetings. Residents have repeatedly attempted to raise concerns about the project, but discussion of the warehouse has been shut down from the very beginning. Even so, every Tuesday we continue showing up because public accountability does not end when elected officials refuse to listen.

Ironically, this week’s meeting includes three separate public hearings, all of which involve careful consideration of land use, infrastructure, or environmental impacts. One concerns extending public water and sewer service to a massive warehouse development. Another involves changes to industrial zoning, and a third examines whether existing water, sewer, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure can support a relatively small rezoning request. These hearings demonstrate that the County routinely scrutinizes whether infrastructure can support new development. Yet the public has been denied the opportunity to discuss many of those same issues as they relate to the proposed ICE detention warehouse. With additional large-scale projects, including proposed data centers, on the horizon, residents deserve transparency about whether our community’s water, sewer, and other infrastructure can support these developments and how they could affect one another.

If you want to do more than protest, you can also sign up to speak during one or more of Tuesday’s public hearings. Whether you want to discuss water and sewer infrastructure, land use, zoning, environmental impacts, or simply call for greater transparency, your voice deserves to be heard. You can register in advance using the Washington County Public Hearing Sign-Up Form.

This warehouse threatens far more than one piece of property. In addition to the human rights concerns, it would place additional strain on our infrastructure, increase wastewater demands, put our creeks and waterways at risk, and raise serious questions about zoning, forest conservation, and responsible planning. These are precisely the kinds of issues county government is supposed to evaluate openly and transparently.

Your presence outside the meeting sends a powerful message. Bring a sign, stand with your neighbors, and help demonstrate that our community expects transparency, accountability, and leadership.

Public pressure matters, and it has already helped shine a national spotlight on this project, delayed its progress, and forced greater scrutiny of decisions that were made behind closed doors. It has also helped expose serious failures in transparency within our county government. Every person who shows up sends a clear message that Washington County residents are paying attention and will continue demanding accountability.

Whether you’ve attended every protest or this would be your first, your presence matters. Bring a friend, bring a sign, and stand with us as we continue opposing the ICE detention warehouse.

Tuesday, July 21
9:00 a.m.
Washington County Commissioners Office
100 W. Washington Street
Hagerstown, MD

We’ll see you there.