Maryland Gov. Wes Moore warns DHS secretary over Williamsport facility

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore warned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Friday that her agency’s recent purchase of a warehouse-like building in Williamsport would be reviewed by Old Line’s state legal arm.

Moore, up for re-election this year, added his voice to the chorus of state Democrats expressing outrage over DHS’s reported plans to use space to house illegal immigrants. Maryland has been at the center of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda with the saga of illegal immigrant Kilmar Ábrego García.

Moore described DHS’s status on the property, sandwiched between the town of Hagerstown and the Potomac River on the West Virginia border, as a “federal occupation” of space that was originally zoned as a commercial site.

The governor said the agency’s use of the area presented a “significant loss of economic opportunity” for Washington County and the state as a whole.

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The site is near the confluence of Interstates 70 and 81, and Moore said it occupies valuable space in a key area for the “manufacturing, logistics and distribution” sector that employs 4,000 jobs in the region.

Moore said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a fellow Democrat, would review the purchase to “ensure full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws.”

“I am very concerned about any detention facility that denies basic human needs and dignity,” Moore said.

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at the Mexican border, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Nogales, Arizona. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)

“I am directing the heads of state agencies to evaluate all available actions to protect the community’s infrastructure, public safety, health and long-term economic stability, including review of permitting requirements, water and sewer applications, hazardous waste disposal and availability of emergency medical services, among other considerations.”

He added that Annapolis always seeks to work with the Trump administration on areas where they can find common ground such as economic opportunity, crime and infrastructure, noting that Maryland has a long history as a federal partner, home to the headquarters of NASA-Goddard, USDA, NSA, NIH and installations like Fort George Meade and Andrews Air Force Base.

“We urge the administration to move beyond unilateral actions and join us in a transparent and collaborative effort to improve the safety and well-being of Marylanders.”

Moore also criticized Noem’s refusal to provide FEMA funds for Maryland Panhandle communities ravaged by 2025 flooding from Georges Creek and the Potomac River.

In recent comments on Fox News Digital, former Republican Congressman Neil Parrott, who long represented the region where the ICE site is located, countered that it was Maryland Democrats’ stance toward the Trump administration that squandered the opportunity to secure FEMA funds for his region.

Additionally, Total Wine billionaire David Trone, who is running for his previous seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the area where the future detention center will be located, filmed a video outside his property saying that DHS is “literally executing people in the street.”

“We know one thing. We don’t need another ICE prison here or anywhere else in America,” Trone said.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore in Annapolis, Maryland on February 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

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Just across the Potomac River, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey told Fox News Digital that the collective outrage over the new ICE center is a “representation of the widespread idiocy of most Democrats in Congress who have stood idly by for the last 25 years and done nothing about immigration laws that they are very unhappy with their enforcement of.”

To the south, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., echoed some of Moore’s concerns this week, saying in a statement that he had spoken directly with Noem about concerns about a proposed ICE facility near the Tennessee border.

“I told him about the opposition from local elected officials and zoning officials as well as economic development concerns. I appreciate him agreeing to look elsewhere,” Wicker said of the Byhalia, Miss., warehouse conversion project, which he said he was “strongly opposed to.”[s]”.

“I’m all for immigration control, but this site was intended for economic development and job creation. We can’t suddenly flood Byhalia with an influx of up to 10,000 detainees.”

Fox News Digital has contacted DHS for comment.