Activists rally ahead of federal hearing on Elkridge ICE facility

Howard County residents and immigrant rights activists plan to rally Thursday morning outside the federal courthouse in downtown Baltimore ahead of a crucial hearing on the future of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Elkridge.

The court is weighing Howard officials’ revocation of a building permit to retrofit an office building at 6522 Meadowridge Road into an ICE Baltimore field office, replacing the current location at Hopkins Plaza in downtown. The case could have major implications for a state law regulating zoning variances and construction permits for buildings being used by private entities as immigration detention facilities.

The county justified revoking the permit in February by saying the private property owner and its partners failed to meet requirements under state law for public notices and hearings related to correctional facilities.

Attorneys for the Michigan-based property owner, Genesis GSA Strategic One LLC, filed a lawsuit in March arguing that code applies only to privately operated detention facilities — not offices such as the one it’s developing in Elkridge, which will be leased to and operated by the government. Genesis has been readying the building for federal authorities since 2023, when Democrat Joe Biden was president.

Although Maryland is not named as a party in the suit, the state Office of the Attorney General was asked to weigh in and could provide arguments during Thursday’s hearing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. In late June, the state addressed the constitutionality of the code as it applies to the Elkridge property in its own brief, which was sealed because it cites details of a confidential lease agreement between the federal government and Genesis.

The federal government stepped in to back the Genesis suit when the Department of Justice submitted a statement of interest in the case last month. It argued that Howard’s application of the law intrudes into the operations of the federal government and the state law itself imposes burdensome regulations on a core function of the federal government. Federal attorneys cited the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which gives precedence to federal law when it conflicts with state or local law.

At a May hearing, U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson questioned the legality of another effort made by Howard County officials to block the project after the permit was revoked.

When the county revoked the permit, County Executive Calvin Ball acknowledged the project could move forward if Genesis and its partners fulfilled the state code’s requirements. So he filed emergency legislation banning private detention centers, which Howard County Council passed unanimously a few days later.

The move was lauded by some county residents and the state’s Democratic establishment as a victory in resisting the Trump administration’s efforts to expand immigration enforcement in the state.

Still, some advocates, including Tina Horn, who works for the Howard-based immigrant support group Luminus, worried the council’s action wouldn’t resolve the matter.

“I think we’ve got our finger in a dike,” Horn said in March. “We’ll see how long that holds. I don’t think that this is finished.”

County attorneys acknowledged in a court filing that the emergency legislation would not impact the Elkridge facility because the government, not a private contractor, would operate it, and Abelson dismissed that part of Genesis’ complaint.

Shana Khader, deputy legal director for We Are CASA, said the notice and comment period spelled out in Maryland law are “not just a box that needs to be checked.”

The government would need to review the public’s input on the permit as part of its evaluation, she said.

“The county has been clear,” Khader said. “It does not want this, and our communities do not want it.”

It’s not clear whether Abelson will rule on the case Thursday, but his decision could have major ramifications for Howard County, Maryland and immigrants detained here.

Federal authorities have repeatedly argued that ICE’s field office in the George H. Fallon Federal Building is inadequate. It limits the agency’s intelligence capacity and ability to act on public safety threats, while exposing it to additional costs and compliance risks. It also doesn’t have enough space to hold the people ICE detains.

Lawmakers, a federal judge and Maryland’s attorney general have pushed the Trump administration to improve conditions in the Fallon building. A viral video posted online in January showed dozens of detainees packed into one of the holding rooms. ICE temporarily closed the field office’s holding cells in March and moved many detainees to other facilities across the country.

Genesis said the Elkridge building was 90% complete when Howard officials halted construction. The company said it had spent more than $21 million on the retrofit, much of which was borrowed, and incurs $5,000 a day in interest.

If the courts side with the company, Howard County could be on the hook for the cost of pausing construction and attorney fees — and left with little recourse to prevent ICE from moving in.