type: timeline_event
On March 19, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson extended a temporary restraining order against the planned ICE detention facility in Williamsport, Maryland, keeping the order in effect through April 16. In his ruling, Judge Hurson found that DHS and ICE had "likely failed to comply" with the National Environmental Policy Act in their rush to acquire and convert the property into a detention center.
The restraining order was part of a broader lawsuit brought by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown challenging DHS's purchase of the Williamsport property without conducting the environmental impact studies or public input processes required by NEPA. The AG's office argued that converting a property into a large-scale detention facility in a residential community required analysis of impacts on water systems, traffic, emergency services, and the surrounding environment — none of which had been performed.
Judge Hurson's finding that DHS had "likely failed" to meet its NEPA obligations was significant because it suggested the government faced an uphill battle on the merits. Environmental review requirements had historically been one of the most effective legal tools for challenging federal construction and facility conversion projects, and the court's preliminary assessment indicated that DHS had prioritized speed over legal compliance in its detention expansion.
The Williamsport case was one of several legal challenges to ICE facility siting across the country, as communities and state officials pushed back against the administration's strategy of rapidly acquiring properties and converting them into detention centers without local consultation. AG Brown framed the lawsuit as a defense of both environmental law and community self-determination, arguing that federal agencies could not simply bypass foundational legal requirements in their haste to expand immigration enforcement infrastructure.