ELKRIDGE, Md. — Howard County leaders are considering new laws Thursday evening that restrict Immigration Customs and Enforcement activity after they say a 30,000 thousand square foot warehouse off of I-95 was being retrofitted as an ICE detention center.
In doing so, Dan Meyer, a federal employment lawyer and former intelligence officer, believes they could be in for a long battle with the federal government.
“This will start as a zoning issue and it will end up as a constitutional issue," he said. "If enough of these get going, this will be the biggest attack on the federal government in years."
Experts believe stage is set for legal battle in Howard County over anti-ICE legislation
University of Maryland Law Professor Mark Graber also agrees a legal challenge is imminent.
“The question is: Who is going to win, where and when?” Graber said.
The building in question is owned by a Michigan-based company called Genesis GSA Strategic One LLC, which shares the same address as Genesis Financial Group, Inc. The company has a sole focus on Federal Government Agency real estate, according to its website.
The county revoked the building permit for 6522 Medowridge Road on Monday.
WMAR-2 News has reached out to the Genesis Financial for comment, but has not heard back.
One emergency bill, likely to be passed by council on Thursday night, would block any private businesses from owning detention centers but it can't do the same for the federal government.
“The general rule is that you can't obstruct a federal mission through local ordinances that are targeted specifically at that mission,” Meyer explains.
The legislation is broad, which works in the county's favor according to Meyer, but the timing and direct focus on the project, believed to be ICE, does not.
This is known as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Most recently exemplified by Washington County leaders who couldn't block the feds from purchasing a building now slated for ICE.
“It is Washington County’s position that decisions about land use are best made locally. 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,” a letter reads.
Graber says however, in the case of Howard County, the feds are missing an important piece to support that argument.
“Unless there's a federal regulation or statute, there's no Supremacy Clause issue just because some federal agency says they want to do something,” Graber explained.
Earlier this week, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson who did not identify themselves, told WMAR-2 News the agency has no plans to open or purchase any detention facility in the county.
There won't be a legal issue, if the DHS never follows through.
“Maybe ICE just decides, well, Maryland's not worth it. Can we unload this, you know, in another state?" Meyer said.
But if that's not the case, he believes the county may have to sue eventually to enforce its laws.
"There's no way you can pass an ordinance, have a zoning officer go down and give a citation to ICE and then stop what's going on. That's just not gonna happen," he said.
While there may be many unknowns at what will happen moving forward, neighbors have been adamantly clear: they don't want any ICE operations in their backyard.