BALTIMORE — The Howard County government revoked a building permit Monday that had been issued for a planned federal immigration detention facility in Elkridge, County Executive Calvin Ball announced during a news conference.

The detention center has been under construction in a former warehouse building in an office park at 6522 Meadowridge Road, according to Ball, who proposed emergency legislation late Friday to block permitting in the county for privately owned buildings to operate as detention centers.

Howard County Council Chair Opel Jones co-sponsored the emergency bill because he thinks the situation is “very disturbing.” The building is in his district.

Jones said the process for acquiring and building out the planned detention center seemed covert.

“If ICE or some other government entity wants to acquire a building, then they should be up-front with who they are,” Jones said. “[The bill] is going to stop any private entity that we’re not sure about from then turning it over to someone that we would not want [in Howard County].”

Ball said that at the time he announced the proposed legislation Friday, the county wasn’t aware of any “confirmed lease or contract between the property owner, the permanent company and any federal agency.” Recent reporting and leasing advertisements have revealed that the facility was intended for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement occupancy, Ball said.

“The retrofitting of private office buildings for detention use without transparency, without public input, without clear oversight, is deeply troubling,” Ball said. “The creation of privately owned detention facilities anywhere in our county, in our state, raises serious concerns about public health safety, welfare and oversight that must be addressed.”

Under state code, the facility appears to meet the definition of an immigration detention facility, Ball said. State law mandates that the state, units of local government or other entities may deny permits to construct or reuse facilities for an immigration detention center unless the public is notified 180 days before, with the opportunity to comment at two public meetings.

Following the state law, the director of the county’s Department of Inspections, Licenses & Permits, Robert J. Frances, revoked the permit, Ball said.

Across from the proposed detention facility is the isolated Meadowridge Landing, a shopping square with a liquor store, a laundromat and a variety of food spots. A quiet residential neighborhood is tucked just behind the shopping center.

Within a mile radius of the facility are Deep Run Elementary School, Mayfield Woods Middle School, Ascension St. Agnes primary care health center, public parks and other community spaces, Ball said.

His emergency legislation, co-sponsored by Jones and council members Christiana Rigby, Liz Walsh and Deb Jung, is set to be read Monday night at a County Council legislative meeting. The bill would prohibit permitting for privately owned buildings that are operating as detention centers in Howard County.

Emergency legislation requires a vote of four of the five council members to schedule a public hearing. A public hearing on the bill is set for Wednesday evening, Ball said.

Walsh also plans to submit emergency legislation regarding local ICE contracts and guidelines for ICE interactions. Ball said he’s been working with the County Council, the county delegation to the Maryland General Assembly and Gov. Wes Moore’s office to advance legislation that will “safeguard” county residents.

The building is owned by Genesis GSA Strategic One LLC, which, according to Maryland property records, bought the space in May 2023 for about $4 million. Government records list the property as an office building. McKeever Services, a third-party company located in Fairfax, Virginia, applied for a permit to renovate the 28,614-square-foot building, receiving that permit Aug. 5, 2025.

McKeever Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to a Friday news release from Ball, the building passed its most recent inspection with conditions on Dec. 29. Some areas had to be reinspected and approved before a use and occupancy certificate could be issued, but the building permit was revoked before that happened.

Pushback on the Howard County facility comes on the heels of a plan to develop a warehouse in Washington County into an immigrant processing center. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement purchased a warehouse in the Hagerstown area on Jan. 15 for $102.4 million, intending to convert the 825,620-square-foot facility into one of 16 new immigrant processing centers. The warehouse sits on a 53-acre plot north of Williamsport.

Plans to have an immigration processing warehouse in Washington County were first reported by The Washington Post on Dec. 24. The center would be one of 16 smaller processing centers across the country, with 500 to 1,500 beds. The facilities would support seven larger detention centers.

It is not yet clear how many beds were intended for the Howard County detention facility.

Tensions over immigration enforcement activity have been on the rise in Howard County after ICE officers made their first documented arrest in the county Jan. 24.

Under the Liberty Act, passed by a supermajority of the Howard County Council in 2020, the county is prohibited from using resources on immigration enforcement unless required by federal or state law, an international treaty or an existing intergovernmental service agreement.

“We will continue to stand firm against any unauthorized criminalization of our residents based on immigration status, race, ethnicity or any other protected characteristic under our laws,” Ball said. “As we continue to witness the devastating consequences of federal enforcement actions across our nation, including loss of life and civil unrest, it is more important than ever that local government acts with clarity, restraint and compassion.”

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