the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
May 18, 2026
A warehouse in Washington County, in western Maryland, was purchased without knowledge of anybody but county commissioners. It is supposed to be used by ICE to house between 500 and 1,500 immigrants in detention. A small number of activists in nearby Hagerstown have been protesting.
The county is majority Republican but the state is majority Democrat. The Democratic attorney general brought suit to stop the detention center on grounds that an environmental analysis was not done. In April, there was a temporary injunction to stop the project.
The warehouse is more than 800,000 square feet, equal to more than ten football fields and right now has four toilets. The activists are trying to argue that both water and sewage will be a challenge if this project goes through. The board of county commissioners made it harder to protest at its meetings after some protesters began to come to speak on the warehouse issues.
Yet if the project goes through, not only will water and sewage and emergency fees go up, the county will not collect taxes on the property. The federal government does not pay property taxes when it has a government usage for a property it buys.
Altogether this warehouse, and others like it being purchased by ICE around the country, will cost money in every state budget and make for worse conditions for immigrant detainees everywhere. Isn’t that the point?