Federal Judge Hears Arguments on Howard County MD's Permit Revocation for Elkridge ICE Warehouse Conversion

A federal judge (Adam Abelson) heard over two hours of arguments on July 2 on whether Howard County, MD illegally revoked building permits for a warehouse in Elkridge being converted to an ICE detention facility by Genesis GSA Strategic One LLC. DOJ joined the contractor’s side, arguing for a preliminary injunction to restart construction; Howard County, backed by the Maryland AG, moved to dismiss, citing Maryland’s Dignity Not Detention Act (no required public-comment process was followed) and County Council emergency legislation CB16-2026 prohibiting permits for privately-owned detention centers. The judge promised a ruling “soon” — if granted, construction restarts while litigation continues; if denied, the county’s prohibition holds.

The case is Maryland’s second active warehouse-conversion permit fight this cycle, running in parallel with Washington County’s NEPA lawsuit over the Williamsport warehouse (2026-02-23–washington-county-md-warehouse-nepa-lawsuit-102m) — both testing whether county-level permit and zoning authority can withstand DOJ intervention on behalf of federal detention contractors.