Federal judge questions legality of Howard County ban on private detention centers

A federal judge seems prepared to strike down Howard County’s emergency legislation banning private detention centers.

During a motions hearing Thursday, Judge Adam Abelson said attorneys representing the private owner of a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Elkridge had a “strong argument” that the bill passed by the Howard County Council in early February was unconstitutional.

Abelson also asked many pointed questions about the county’s decision to revoke a building permit for the project just days before the legislation passed.

The plan to convert the brick office building at 6522 Meadowridge Road into a new home for ICE’s Baltimore field office — including space to process and hold detainees during daytime operating hours — has been in the works since 2022, when Joe Biden was president. Howard residents only became aware of the project in late January, when County Executive Calvin Ball announced plans to introduce emergency legislation aimed at blocking the project.

Days later, Howard officials told Genesis GSA Strategic One, a Michigan-based company that builds facilities for the federal government, that its project met the state’s definition of an immigrant detention center and thus needed notices and public hearings. County staff revoked the project’s building permit and local leaders soon passed the emergency legislation.

Outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore, Genesis attorney Michael Edney, of Morgan Lewis, said the state statute was “just an excuse” for Howard to block the project, which was about 90% complete when construction was halted.

Genesis attorneys didn’t argue that the state’s statute was unconstitutional but rather the county’s application of it was.

Genesis has spent more than $21 million on the ICE facility, much of which was borrowed, Edney said. The company incurs $5,000 a day in interest, which has put more than a dozen other Genesis properties at financial risk.

Genesis sued the county in March, asking the court to strike down Howard’s ban on permits for privately owned detention centers — and to order the county to reinstate a building permit that was abruptly revoked after the renovation was more than 90% complete.

Later that month, Howard County’s attorneys filed their own motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit altogether.

The Trump administration is watching the case. In a filing supporting the Genesis case, the Department of Justice told the court in April that ICE’s space in the George H. Fallon Federal Building in downtown Baltimore limits the agency’s intelligence capacity and ability to act on public safety threats, while exposing it to additional costs and compliance risks.

Howard County residents, hundreds of whom rallied against the project in subzero weather, also have a stake in the case. If a judge rules in favor of Genesis, taxpayers could be on the hook for attorney fees and damages.

During Thursday’s hearing, Howard attorney David Moore told the judge that the county was being put in an “odd position.”

“The county has no choice but to follow state law,” Moore said, adding that if the state law were found invalid, the county wouldn’t follow it.

Moore pointed out that Genesis did not name the state as a defendant in the suit.

Howard has a long history of working with federal agencies, Moore said, and county staff make permitting decisions based on what information is disclosed in the permit file.