After weeks of growing protests over the proposed Hagerstown-area ICE detention facility, this weekend seems to have finally gotten the Washington County Commissioners’ attention.
Thousands showed up for Saturday’s No Kings rally in Hagerstown, while the No Kings, No Camps campaign spread across Maryland, raising awareness about the 825,000-square-foot Washington County warehouse being converted into an ICE detention facility and our ongoing effort to stop job sites like Indeed from profiting off staffing it.
Apparently, that level of public outrage is hard to ignore.
That momentum carried straight into Tuesday.
For weeks, we have been protesting outside the Washington County Commissioners’ meetings, demanding transparency and refusing to let county leadership quietly push this project forward behind closed doors.
This week’s protest centered on a letter signed by 50 local doctors warning about the very real health consequences this facility could bring if it opens: overcrowding, infectious disease spread, added strain on local hospitals and emergency services, and the obvious dangers of turning a warehouse built for packages into a detention center for people.
Then, less than 24 hours before the commissioners meeting, a curious agenda item appeared: a vote to purchase $94,000 in riot gear for local law enforcement.
Funny timing.
Coming just days after thousands filled the streets, it certainly gave the impression that county leadership was preparing for the community’s response instead of listening to it.
So we did what we always do.
We organized.
We mobilized our 500+ person Signal group, alongside Washington County Indivisible, to amplify the weekly protest. Multiple D.C. and Baltimore TV news crews were on the ground, along with national media outlets.
And then, suddenly, the vote could wait.
The Commissioners blinked and delayed the riot gear vote.
Turns out public scrutiny, television cameras, and a community that refuses to back down can make elected officials reconsider their priorities.
They did not delay the vote out of the goodness of their hearts.
They delayed it because the public showed up, stayed loud, and made it impossible to pretend no one was paying attention.
When we fight back, we win.
Read more about this here on our Substack: