Protesters rally against planned Maryland immigration detention facility that's now paused

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — Horns blared and protesters screamed “Stop ICE!” outside a meeting on the western edge of Maryland where county officials were discussing mundane issues like the solid waste budget.

It's been like this ever since the Department of Homeland Security bought an 825,000-square-foot (76,645-square-meter) building in Washington County as part of a plan to transform warehouses across the U.S. into detention facilities for tens of thousands of immigrants.

“This is a facility built for packages, not people,” Patrick Dattilio, the founder of an anti- Immigration and Customs Enforcement group called Hagerstown Rapid Response, said as he stood outside the county commission meeting.

The federal government has faced fierce opposition in communities where it spent a total of $1.074 billion for 11 warehouses under a plan that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is reviewing. Washington County is the most welcoming community — a place where officials said they supported ICE, albeit amid whistles and jeers. The processing center there was supposed to be one of the first to open in a facilities project hatched under Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem.

But now DHS' plan for the Washington County building is paused — mired in a court battle like some of the other warehouse-to-detention projects across the U.S. Questions swirl about whether Mullin will move ahead with the facilities project or chart another course as he pursues President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

The sprawling blue-and-white warehouse in Washington County has been the subject of intense debate in part because of the way commissioners voiced their support for ICE.

While repeatedly insisting that their hands were tied because the federal government already bought the building, the commissioners also approved a proclamation during their Feb. 10 meeting declaring their “unwavering support” for DHS and ICE.

The proclamation, which didn’t specifically mention the warehouse purchase, was met with so much booing and yelling that the commission president cleared the room.

The county wanted something, too. It forwarded the proclamation to Noem the next day in an email identifying hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of sewer, airport and highway upgrades that it said were needed, according to a public records request received by local resident Ethan Wechtaluk, who's running for Congress in the district that includes the warehouse.

ICE, flush with cash from a massive congressional appropriation, has since signed a contract worth $113 million to renovate the building for 500 to 1,500 detainees, but a judge temporarily halted work after Maryland's attorney general sued. A hearing is scheduled for April 15.

County commissioners did not respond to email or telephone requests for comment. County administrator Michelle Gordon in a statement said the commissioners were declining all interview requests.

Many residents of the county — a place Civil War buffs come to visit the Antietam battlefield before making their way to nearby Gettysburg — are outraged both because they have moral objections to the facility and because they didn't find out about the purchase beforehand.

“We have had no voice in this,” Carroll Sager said over the din of protesters and honking cars. Behind her, the sheriff's department had cordoned off part of the county building with crime scene tape to deter protesters. Two deputies watched the demonstrators.

During the meeting, Sager sat quietly, holding a sign that read: “Disenfranchised in Washington County.”

The pushback in other communities has included a New Jersey lawsuit that alleges an “utter lack of communication” and a lawsuit in Michigan questioning why DHS didn’t look at using empty state prisons. Officials in Salt Lake City and Pennsylvania have threatened to withhold or limit water. In Georgia, the town of Social Circle placed a lock on the water meter at a warehouse DHS purchased.

Meanwhile, questions also have come up about how much DHS paid for some warehouses. It paid double what the New Jersey warehouse was valued at in tax records and nearly five times more than the assessed value of the Social Circle warehouse.

Mullin was pressed during his confirmation hearing about whether he would continue Noem's policy of turning these warehouses into detention facilities. Without committing to anything, Mullin said the department wanted to “be good partners” with communities.

Days after he was sworn in, DHS paused the purchase of new warehouses intended to house immigrants. It's scrutinizing all contracts signed under Noem.

The federal government also said in a recent court filing in Maryland's lawsuit that “ICE is reconsidering the plans and scope of the warehouse.”

Asked whether any changes were afoot for the Maryland facility, DHS said in a statement: “As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals.”

The plan was to turn the Maryland warehouse into an ICE processing facility that would hold recently arrested immigrants before they go to other facilities for long-term detention.

ICE officials have said the Washington County warehouse would serve the Baltimore ICE office's needs for detention space. State lawmakers have expressed concerns about the George H. Fallon Federal Building that houses ICE detainees in downtown Baltimore in part because a bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease was found in the water.

Activists and people who live near the Washington County warehouse are watching.

For nearly three decades Nica Sutch has had a home in the rolling hills of western Maryland, where she raised children and entertained grandchildren.

When the warehouse was built a few years ago to meet the demand for distribution centers, fueled by a growth in online shopping, she rationalized that it could be an economic boon for the region.

Now that ICE has purchased the building, she's eyeing a move.

“I love the area,” she said during an interview in her backyard. “I love everything. This has been my home for 28 years.”

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Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.

A security vehicle drives past trailers outside a proposed ICE detention center in a small community in western Maryland known as a destination for weekend bicyclists and Civil War history buffs in Williamsport, Md., Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A stately southern mansion sits close to a proposed ICE detention center, top, in a small community in western Maryland known as a destination for weekend bicyclists and Civil War history buffs in Williamsport, Md., Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A trailers outside a proposed ICE detention center in a small community in western Maryland known as a destination for weekend bicyclists and Civil War history buffs in Williamsport, Md., Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Activist Patrick Dattilio stands in front of a proposed ICE detention center in Williamsport, Md., Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war, in a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S. as uncertainty hangs over a days-old two-week ceasefire and further negotiations are expected in Pakistan.

The charts were released by the ISNA news agency, as well as Tasnim, which is believed to be close to the Guard. They showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the Traffic Separation Scheme, which was the route ships take through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded once passed.

The chart suggested ships travel further north through waters closer to Iran’s mainland near Larak Island, a route that some ships were observed taking during the war.

The charts were dated from Feb. 28 until Thursday, April 9, and it was unclear if the Guard had cleared any mining on the route since then.

Oil rose again to above $97 a barrel and Asian stocks were trading lower Thursday on skepticism over the ceasefire. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 2.9% to $97.46 per barrel. It had fallen briefly to below $92 following the temporary ceasefire announcement. Benchmark U.S. crude was 3.7% higher Thursday at $97.94 per barrel.

Ship-tracking data from Kpler showed only four vessels with their Automatic Identification System trackers on passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day of the ceasefire. However, that does not include so-called “dark fleet” vessels, which travel with their AIS trackers turned off. Many of those “dark fleet” ships carry sanctioned Iranian crude oil out to the open market.

U.S. President Donald Trump posted a statement insisting that his surge of warships and troops will remain around Iran “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.”

Trump’s comments on his Truth Social platform appeared to be a way to pressure Iran.

“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” Trump wrote.

He also insisted Iran would not be able to build nuclear weapons and “the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE.”

The U.S. and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the ceasefire agreement, and world leaders expressed relief. But more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries after the deal was announced.

Israel also intensified its attacks on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon on Wednesday, hitting commercial and residential areas in Beirut. At least 182 people were killed in the deadliest day of fighting there. First responders searched overnight for missing people still under the rubble after the deadly Israeli strikes.

The violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal.

Iran's parliament speaker said Wednesday that planned talks were “unreasonable” because Washington had broken three of Tehran’s 10 conditions for an end to the fighting. In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf objected to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, an alleged drone incursion into Iranian airspace after the ceasefire took effect and U.S. refusal to accept any Iranian enrichment capabilities in a final agreement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon. When the deal was announced, the prime minister of Pakistan, which served as a mediator, said in a social media post that it applied to “everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere.”

A New York-based think tank warned the ceasefire “hovers on the verge of collapse.”

The Soufan Center said Israel's strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday added to the risk the deal would fall apart.

“Even if Lebanon was formally outside the deal, the scale of Israel’s strikes was likely to be viewed as escalatory, nonetheless,” it wrote in an analysis published Thursday. “Israel’s strikes can be understood both as an effort to drive a wedge between Iran and its proxies and as a response to being allegedly sidelined in the original ceasefire discussions.”

The White House said that Vice President JD Vance would lead the U.S. delegation to talks in Islamabad aimed at ending the war, which are set to start Saturday.

Iran’s negotiating team will arrive in Islamabad on Thursday night, the Iranian ambassador there said.

Reza Amiri Moghadam wrote on X that the “Iranian delegation arrives tonight in Islamabad for serious talks based on 10 points proposed by Iran,” without identifying who was on the Iranian team.

Those points include Iran enriching uranium, maintaining its control of the Strait of Hormuz and other issues that have been nonstarters in the past for Trump. The White House has repeatedly described the 10 points issued by Iran as false.

Moghadam wrote that the Iranians would come to Islamabad despite “skepticism of Iranian public opinion due to repeated ceasefire violations by Israeli regime to sabotage the diplomatic initiative,” likely referring to Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, which Israel and the U.S. have said wasn’t included in the shaky ceasefire.

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Zeke Miller in Washington and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla contributed to this report.

A rescue worker extinguishes burning cars at the site of an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ali, 4, holds a toy horse next to the tent his family uses as a shelter after fleeing Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Government supporters gather ahead of the funeral procession for Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, head of intelligence for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FILE - Two police officers walk in front of an anti-U.S. billboard depicting American aircraft being caught by Iranian armed forces in a fishing net beneath the words in Farsi, "The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground," in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)