The Department of Homeland Security bought a more than 825,000-square-foot warehouse in Hagerstown last week to possibly serve as a detention facility for ICE that could hold as many as 1,500 beds for detained immigrants.

The deed, signed Jan. 22, shows the property was purchased from FRND-Hopewell, LLC for $102.4 million.

FRND-Hopewell is a holding company with the same address as RSE Capital, an investment firm started by Fundrise, a real estate investment crowdsourcing app.

The deed was unearthed by Project Salt Box, a Maryland ICE watchdog.

The Hagerstown warehouse was part of a leaked ICE list of multiple locations across the U.S. that are possibly being targeted for procurement to hold as many as 80,000 detained immigrants.

The possible creation of a detention center in Hagerstown has been a point of concern for the Maryland Congressional delegation, which sent a letter to DHS on Jan. 20 about it.

“It is our understanding that such a facility would be used to house noncitizens for as long as ‘a few weeks’ prior to their transfer to large-scale warehouses to facilitate deportations,” the members of the delegation wrote. “Recently, we learned that last week a DHS official visited a potential processing facility site which is not designed or outfitted to house, feed, or provide adequate care for detainees. It is deeply concerning that the proposed location is situated in an area of Washington County that is not zoned for overnight habitation, creating a direct conflict between DHS and local law.”

The delegation requested “all documentation, including but not limited to planning materials, solicitations, proposals, site assessments, and communications concerning the establishment of a processing facility in Hagerstown, Maryland and any other locations where ICE operations are planned or have been established in our state since January 20, 2025” in the letter.

DHS’s outright ownership of the facility may have been an attempt to circumvent Maryland’s Dignity Not Detention Act.

The law, passed in 2021, prohibits local and state jurisdictions from entering into agreements that facilitate the detention of immigrants.

By buying the building, the federal government will be able to do as it pleases with the warehouse without an agreement with local or state government.