Despite the cold, nearly 50 people gathered outside of Washington County Commissioner’s meeting Tuesday in protest of the plans by ICE to convert a warehouse into a detention center.
The warehouse is located on 16220 Wright Road in Williamsport, and sits at the intersection of Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. ICE has plans to renovate the site into what could become one of the largest immigration detention centers in the nation.
The warehouse was purchased on January 2 for $102.4 million and spans more than 800,000 square feet. With plans to hold 1,500 detainees, it is reported to have only 4 bathrooms and 2 water fountains at this time.
Protestors expressed frustration over the lack of transparency surrounding the purchase of the warehouse. Some argued the public should have been allowed to say whether they wanted such a facility or not.
Dave Williams, a member of the grassroots organization Washington County Invisible, was critical of the county commissioners' choice to support ICE activities in the region. He said the commissioners office hasn’t answered any of the public’s questions. “I have a list here of 20 questions that we’ve presented to the county commissioners that they have ignored,” Williams explained. “So that’s why we’re out here every meeting, to see if they will finally give us an answer.”
Among his concerns, Williams noted sewage and water capacity as well as the impact to traffic and the surrounding community’s infrastructure among his worries. Attorney General Anthony Brown alleged in a video that the facility would produce four times the waste water than the building’s infrastructure was designed for. Brown’s office announced a lawsuit Monday in hopes of stopping the center.
To Dr. Kate Sugarman, the issue of waste water is no small matter. She is worried that putting so many people in such a space as this warehouse will be a breeding ground for disease. “I have countless medical records of people in ICE jails,” Dr. Sugarman explained. “I know with certainty that ICE does not provide appropriate medical care and the number of deaths of people in ICE custody continues to rise.”
Cases of measles have broken out in ICE facilities, some as recent as January. With that in mind, Dr. Sugarman said those cases are evidence ICE is not offering timely medical care or necessary vaccines to their detainees.
At this point, Dr. Sugarman said she is not interested in using polite language when referring to ICE facilities. She said detention sounds too much like the way children are punished for misbehaving at school. “These are concentration camps where large numbers of people, due to no fault of their own — not getting due process — are getting warehoused and we need to stop it immediately.”
Several people showed up to support ICE and the warehouse such as Shaun Porter, a self-described part-time Washington County resident. He felt that concerns over water and infrastructure were being made into bigger issues than they needed to be. “With the kind of money the federal government has, they can do whatever they need to facilitate water flow,” Porter said.
While some protesters were concerned the warehouse could use up the local area’s water supply, Porter rebutted by pointing out the area was able to sustain numerous hotels and other businesses. “You don’t see people come out and complain about a 300 room hotel that is going to use the same amount of water as 300 prisoners would,” Porter said.
RJ Hrabe also spoke out in favor of the facility. Hrabe rebuffed claims regarding lack of transparency, arguing states should not have the right to stop ICE activities in their jurisdictions. He believes ICE works to protect American citizens and thinks that Williamsport is as good a place for the detention center as any.
In light of the environmental concerns of the protestors, he argued that they would not be happy with anything the government did. Even if ICE chose to put the warehouse somewhere else, he argued that would only lead to different people being angry about the same thing. “Whatever they do, it’s not going to be good enough for people who just don't like Trump or this country or are mad that the democrats lost,” Hrabe said. “It’s just all out of bitterness and rage.”
