WASHINGTON — Just before reading the Washington County Board of County Commissioners' endorsement of the Trump administration’s immigration efforts in the area, Commission President John Barr issued a warning. “Any additional noise, outcries, comments, I will suspend this meeting.”

Protesters gathered outside the Board of County Commissioners’ Office in Hagerstown before the meeting — the latest in a series of rallies decrying the facility. Protesters inside the room held signs and, at times, blew whistles to disrupt the proceedings. With chants reverberating from outside the room, the board endorsed the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) mission in Washington County — to install a new immigration detention facility. Then Barr stopped the meeting as people in the audience whistled and booed.

The meeting’s deterioration marked a chaotic end to the county’s neutrality on the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that has riled residents, lawmakers, and outside activists.

“The Board of County Commissioners of Washington County hereby expresses its full support for DHS and ICE, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and local municipal law enforcement agencies, in their efforts to maintain public safety and uphold the rule of law,” the resolution stated.

What the resolution didn’t mention: the Williamsport warehouse-turned-detention-facility at the heart of the disruptions. The absence was indicative of the balance the county has attempted to strike throughout the affair.

The detention facility has drawn attention from congressional lawmakers. Amid rumors that ICE was scouting the Williamsport warehouse site, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney, both Democrats, joined a rally in downtown Hagerstown. On Tuesday, the pair, joined by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, requested transparency from the board on how the facility could impact the surrounding area, addressing them in a letter ahead of the vote.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, the county’s official stance was that the federal government never communicated its plan directly to the board. After the government purchased the warehouse, the commissioners said the administration had informed the Washington County Planning and Zoning Department of its intent, but not the board.

“It is Washington County’s position that decisions about land use are best made locally,” the county’s Jan. 28 statement said. “However, the legal reality when property is owned by the Federal Government is clear. Washington County is not able to legally restrict the federal government’s ability to proceed. DHS has not notified Washington County that a purchase has taken place.”

Meanwhile, officials and lawmakers in both parties admitted concerns — including Barr.

“How are you going to have human beings in an open warehouse?” Barr said to The Sun on Jan. 28. “We’re concerned with the logistics of the whole process.”

On Feb. 6, Gov. Wes Moore wrote a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, saying that the state was ready to intervene. He indicated Maryland would sue if it found that the federal government had cut corners during the process — which one county resident had alleged.

“We are extremely disappointed in the myriad ways that the Trump Administration continues to sacrifice federal-local collaboration,” the letter said.

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