The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has inked a deal to purchase a warehouse just outside of Hagerstown for $102.4 million.

So far, federal officials have declined to talk about their specific plans in the area. Reports published earlier this month said that the department was considering converting a warehouse into an immigration detention facility near the city.

But last week, Maryland’s U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and other Democratic lawmakers visited the city, expressing concern that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was scoping out properties in the area.

Washington County property records show that the 825,620-square-foot warehouse was sold to the federal government on Jan. 22 by FRIND-Hopewell LLC. That entity had purchased the 53.5-acre property in 2022 for $104.9 million.

The limited liability company is linked in public records to the Washington, D.C.–based real estate investment group Fundrise.

FRIND-Hopewell used an address for the company when purchasing the property, and the deed was signed by the company’s chief operating officer, Brandon Jenkins. Fundrise did not respond to multiple requests for comment this week.

In a statement provide late Tuesday night, ICE said the agency has no new detention facilities to announce at this time, but added that, “these will not be warehouses — they will be very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards."

In the fall, DHS — the parent agency for ICE — issued a nearly $30 million contract to a Kansas-based company for “due diligence and concept design” for retrofitting large, existing structures into detention and operations facilities.

“Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space,” the ICE statement continued.

The transaction was first reported by the Baltimore news blog, Project Salt Box.

The property — roughly 80 miles from ICE’s Baltimore field office — has been on the radar of activists in the Hagerstown area since a list of potential warehouse sites being scoped out by federal officials was leaked and published on multiple news sites. It sits about 7 miles outside of Hagerstown on the outskirts of Williamsport.

Former federal immigration officials have told The Banner that establishing detention space in Maryland would be a necessary precursor to a surge in enforcement in the state.

Earlier this week, a viral video showed crowded holding cells in ICE’s downtown Baltimore processing facility, a visceral illustration of how of the state’s restrictions on bed space have led to overcrowding there.

Last week, Maryland’s Democratic congressional delegation expressed grave reservations about the potential ICE facility.

In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, those members of Congress demanded more details about the reported plans by DHS.

“Any efforts to subject Hagerstown and Washington County to such a facility without the consent of state and local officials or our constituents is a serious violation of the principles of federalism and self-governance,” the letter read.

In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, Van Hollen said the purchase was done in “blatant disregard for the will of this community.”

Hagerstown is on a list of 16 areas around the U.S. for proposed ICE “processing sites” that could each house up to 1,500 people at a time, according to The Washington Post.

In 2021, state lawmakers prohibited state and local governments from contracting with ICE, effectively ending long-term immigration detention in the state, as the only facilities holding ICE detainees were local jails.

The law, known as the Dignity Not Detention Act, cannot, however, restrict the federal government from operating its own detention facility.

For years, the large capital cost necessary to purchase or construct such a facility was a barrier for the Department of Homeland Security. But a new tranche of federal funding for the agency is expected to lead to rapid expansion for immigration enforcement around the country.

The DND Act does, however, require the government to go through an engagement process with local communities, including public hearings, before opening a detention center in their backyard.

“It’s disappointing that ICE is choosing to expand detention in Maryland and spend more taxpayer money on warehouses and cages instead of health care or infrastructure,” said Del. Vaughn Stewart, a Montgomery County Democrat who authored the DND Act. ”Fortunately, the General Assembly will be considering legislation this session to strengthen our laws and give communities a real say.”

U.S. Rep April McClain Delaney, a Democrat representing the state’s 6th District, including the area around Hagerstown, bemoaned “ICE’s covert acquisition of a warehouse in historic Williamsport” which she described as “carried out without transparency, community input, or accountability.”

She added: “We do not want this facility in our backyard. Our communities will not be steamrolled, and our neighbors will not be targeted in silence. We will organize. We will show up. We will speak out. We will sue. And we will not stop fighting — together — until this proposal is stopped and our community is respected.”

Banner reporter Brenda Wintrode contributed to this report.