HAGERSTOWN, MD. — Protesters rallied outside and inside a Washington County commissioners meeting in Hagerstown, Maryland, on February 10, 2026, to oppose the Department of Homeland Security's plan to convert a local warehouse into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility. During the same meeting, commissioners approved a proclamation declaring their "unwavering support" for DHS and ICE, a vote that was met with boos and yelling and prompted the commission president to clear the room.

Outside the building on the western edge of Maryland, horns blared and demonstrators screamed "Stop ICE!" as the session took place inside. The sheriff's department had cordoned off the building with crime scene tape to deter protesters, and two deputies stood watch over the demonstrators gathered nearby.

DHS purchased the 825,000-square-foot building in Washington County, located approximately 60 miles northwest of Baltimore, for $102.4 million. ICE then signed a separate contract worth $113 million to renovate the warehouse into a processing facility designed to hold between 500 and 1,500 detainees. The Washington County acquisition was part of a broader federal initiative under which immigration officials spent a total of $1.074 billion to purchase 11 warehouses across the country intended for conversion into detention facilities. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is currently reviewing the warehouse-to-detention-facility plan.

Renovations at the Washington County site are now paused after Maryland's attorney general filed a lawsuit challenging the project. A hearing in that case is scheduled for April 15, 2026.

Patrick Dattilio, founder of an anti-ICE group called Hagerstown Rapid Response, voiced opposition to the facility's intended purpose at the February 10 gathering. "This is a facility built for packages, not people," Dattilio said. Washington County resident Carroll Sager attended the commissioners meeting holding a sign that read "Disenfranchised in Washington County." "We have had no voice in this," Sager said.

County administrator Michelle Gordon said in a statement that the commissioners were declining all interview requests. No public statement from DHS or ICE addressing community opposition to the project was available.