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I’m on the ground in Hagerstown, Maryland, today with The Real News Network, where we came to look at what ICE is calling its detention reengineering program, the administration’s plan to convert former industrial warehouses into massive immigration detention facilities capable of holding thousands of people at a time.

The Hagerstown facility is one of the first in this planned national network. ICE purchased the building as part of a broader effort to build a hub-and-spoke detention system modeled explicitly on Amazon’s supply chain. At least eight buildings have already been acquired across the country, with a total projected price tag reportedly in the tens of billions of dollars. Whether this particular facility actually moves forward is still an open question. Bureaucratic hurdles remain but the government has already spent over $100M on the facility and I believe around $30M on a design contract.

The scale of what’s being planned here is hard to grasp until you’re standing next to it. It’s really massive. Communities near these facilities have raised concerns about infrastructure, emergency services, and what it means to have a federal detention facility of this size drop into their backyards. Some deals around the country have already fallen apart under local pressure.

To learn more about the detention reengineering program for a while now, listen to my recent conversation with Washington Post reporter Doug MacMillan, whose reporting has been essential to understanding both the scale and the conditions inside these facilities. Being here in person today was a chance to see what all of this actually looks like on the ground.

Austin Kocher

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Feb 18

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More to come.

Thank you Tamie Swain ????????, Scott Devereaux, and many others for tuning into my live video.

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The longtime Eddie Bauer Outlet store at Hagerstown Premium Outlets is among those having a closing sale after the owner of the brand's brick-and-mortar stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Eddie Bauer LLC announced on Feb. 9 it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey and entered into a restructuring support agreement with its secured lenders.

The Eddie Bauer Outlet at the outlet center off of Sharpsburg Pike and West Oak Ridge Drive opened in January 1995, according to Herald-Mail archives. The outlet center opened in August 1994 as Prime Outlets at Hagerstown.

A March 6 auction the debtors scheduled has been canceled, but the debtors could still consider a proposal to buy some or all of Eddie Bauer LLC's assets, according to bankruptcy documents.

In the meantime, closing sales will continue at all of the brick-and-mortar stores.

The auction was canceled after the debtors didn't receive what they considered to be a qualified bid by the March 3 bid deadline.

RCS Real Estate Advisors is marketing about 174 Eddie Bauer LLC store leases, including 150 in 40 states and 24 in Canada, according to a March 3 RCS release.

The bankruptcy sale of leases includes the following Eddie Bauer store spaces:

Lease sales are subject to bankruptcy court approval.

What Eddie Bauer customers should know

A manager at the Eddie Bauer Outlet south of Hagerstown said March 4 that she did not have a closing date for the store.

However, a Feb. 23 filing in the bankruptcy case states that store closing sales at the 175 brick-and-mortar stores "remain ongoing and are projected to conclude before April 30."

Customers with Eddie Bauer gift cards have until March 12 to use them at the closing stores, according to bankruptcy case documents.

Merchandise sold in the closing sales will be final with no refunds and/or returns accepted at the stores.

The company's online sales and wholesale operations are not affected by the wind down because they are operated by Outdoor 5 LLC, the Feb. 9 release states.

Authentic Brands Group announced Jan. 8 it was expanding its partnership with Outdoor 5 LLC (Oved) to assume responsibility of the Eddie Bauer "brand’s e-commerce and wholesale operations, as well as design and product development in the United States and Canada."

"The strategic focus on digital growth builds on Eddie Bauer’s strong online footprint and its community of explorers, who come together across its platforms to share and seek new adventures," the release states.

Authentic Brands also has Reebok, Nautica, Brooks Brothers and Dockers in its portfolio.

Why did Eddie Bauer LLC file for bankruptcy?

Catalyst Brands CEO Marc Rosen, in a Feb. 9 release, said Eddie Bauer LLC has been facing decling sales, supply chain challenges and other issues.

Eddie Bauer LLC is a division of Catalyst Brands, which holds the license to operate about 180 Eddie Bauer stores in the United States and Canada.

"Over the past year, these challenges have been exacerbated by various headwinds, including increased costs of doing business due to inflation, ongoing tariff uncertainty, and other factors. While the leadership team at Catalyst was able to make significant strides in the brand, including rapid improvements in product development and marketing, those changes could not be implemented fast enough to fully address the challenges created over several years," Rosen said in the release.

Eddie Bauer's history

Eddie Bauer was founded by Eddie Bauer, a Seattle native with a passion for hunting and fishing. The store says it aims to "inspire, enable, and empower everyone to experience the outdoors and live their adventure."

The brand opened as Bauer Sports Shop in 1920 and celebrated its centennial in 2020. Eddie Bauer's products range from performance outerwear to apparel, footwear, and accessories, and are available online in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan, and other international markets.

USA Today staff writers Fernando Cervantes Jr., Saman Shafiq, and Anna Kaufman contributed to this story.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —

Two signatures sent a unified message from state and local elected officials in Maryland to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The first was a warning letter Gov. Wes Moore sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The second was emergency legislation that Howard County Executive Calvin Ball signed into law.

Both represented an attempt to put guardrails on what ICE can and can't do in the state.

It was unanimous, bipartisan and swift. In one week, Howard County officials drew up and passed an emergency measure that councilmembers said draws a clear line in the sand over federal immigration actions.

"This is indeed an emergency," said Howard County Council Chair Opel Jones, D-District 2.

With an emergency bill signing on Friday, Howard County officially blocked a 29,000-square-foot private immigration detention center from opening in an office building on Meadowridge Road in Elkridge.

"In just seven days, we proved that when our values are clear, our action can be swift," Ball said.

The legislation that is now a law received unanimous and bipartisan approval from the Howard County Council on Thursday. It bans permits for private detention centers.

"In this moment when we are being tested, Howard County understood the assignment," Moore said.

It comes amid ongoing debate and public protests over ICE enforcement actions across the country and the Trump administration's plan to open and operate an ICE detention center just outside of Hagerstown at a 54-acre warehouse property it just bought for $102 million.

It is not permitted or zoned for human habitation, Washington County officials said. However, they can't enforce local code on a building owned by the feds.

On Friday, Moore basically said "We'll see about that."

"It is not going to be stood for and is not going to be supported by the people here in the state of Maryland," Moore said.

Moore directed agency heads and the attorney general to review all applicable law and all available options.

In the letter to Noem decrying the lack of transparency, Moore expressed concern about near-capacity water and sewer systems, and the drain on public safety resources.

"We want the federal government to know that we are not blind nor oblivious to all the various levers that we can use to make sure that our people are protected," Moore said.

WBAL-TV 11 News reached out to DHS but has not heard back about the Washington County warehouse and the governor's warning.

An ICE spokesperson said the agency has no plans to open a detention center or purchase a facility in Howard County.

— WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore (@wbaltv11) February 6, 2026

Gov. Wes Moore became the latest to criticize a potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Hagerstown on Friday, expressing “grave concerns” about the project in an open letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“I have grave concerns about any holding facility that denies basic human needs and dignity,” Moore said in the two-page letter. “Public safety is my top priority and we must protect the public by upholding all Constitutional rights.”

The letter came the same day that Moore gathered with other state, federal and local officials in Howard County, where County Executive Calvin Ball signed emergency legislation to block the conversion of a building in an Elkridge office park into a privately run detention center for immigrants.

That legislation was rushed through in less than a week, after county officials learned of the project, revoked its permit and introduced a bill clarifying that only the government could operate a detention facility. County officials said the planned conversion of an office building into a 29,000-square-foot immigration detention center failed to give notice and hold proper public hearings, and was impermissibly close to schools, parks and shopping centers.

“This legislation was not about speed alone,” said Ball in a statement where he noted that it took less than a week from introduction through emergency hearings to signing. “It was about principle. It was about drawing a firm line between public safety and discrimination rooted in fear. It was about affirming that what we allow to be built in our neighborhoods impacts the public health, safety, and welfare of our community.”

While the Elkridge center appears to have been blocked, the future of the Hagerstown facility is less clear.

Washington County officials said in a Jan. 28 statement that they were disappointed by ICE’s announcement that it was considering the purchase of a warehouse in Williamsport for development of a “new ICE Baltimore processing facility.” Plans call for the “construction of holding and processing spaces, office space, public-facing visitor space and installation of amenities, such as cafeterias, bathrooms, and health care spaces,” among other changes.

County officials only learned of the project when the county’s Historic District Commission received a letter from ICE indicating that the project would have no impact on local historic properties. That appears to be the federal government’s only obligation under the law, said county officials, who said they may be powerless to stop the project.

“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,” the county statement said. “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.”

Viral videos surfaced in January of the current ICE facility in Baltimore that showed detainees crowded into a single room. Advocates condemned the facility, calling the conditions “inhumane.”

Moore cited a “troubling” lack of transparency from the department over the Williamsport facility in his letter to Noem. He wrote that he views actions like this acquisition as continuous attempts to “sacrifice federal-local collaboration.”

U.S. Rep April McClain Delaney (D-6th), who has been an outspoken critic of the conditions at the current ICE facility in Baltimore, echoed Moore’s human rights concerns in a statement Friday.

“People are not packages. Team Maryland cannot allow Noem’s ICE to establish a detention center in Williamsport to hold people without due process, transparency, or accountability – in violation of the constitutional and human rights of Maryland’s residents,” McClain Delaney wrote.

“The Supremacy Clause does not give the federal government authority to override the fundamental rights of my constituents and our neighbors,“ her statement said.

She said in a statement from her office last week that “ICE’s covert acquisition of a warehouse in historic Williamsport – carried out without transparency, community input, or accountability – is unacceptable,” and she planned to work with state and federal officials to demand answers.

Moore also wrote that the Williamsport facility may lead to significant economic troubles. The warehouse, which originally opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, is one of many that contribute to over “about 4,000 jobs, hundreds of millions in wages, and more than $450 million in combined capital investment.”

He said that economic loss from the ICE facility could undermine the county’s water and sewage systems. As the county is already reaching capacity with these systems, Moore wrote, a lack of financial support from a commercial distribution site will only excacerbate the problem.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, MD (January 28, 2026) – On January 14, 2026, a letter addressed to the Historic District Commission, Washington County Planning and Zoning Department was received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The letter indicated that DHS was analyzing the potential purchase of the warehouse at 10900 Hopewell Road (A/K/A 16220 Wright Road), Williamsport, MD, to establish a “new ICE Baltimore Processing Facility” for use by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Elements of the project mentioned in the letter include, “construction of holding and processing spaces, office space, public-facing visitor space and installation of amenities, such as cafeterias, bathrooms, and health care spaces”. Proposed site improvements mentioned in the letter include, but are not limited to, “installing, upgrading, or rehabilitating existing parking areas, fencing, site lighting, landscaping, drainage/stormwater, recreation areas and cameras. Tentage and guard shacks may also be installed.”

The letter was sent under a federal law that requires DHS to inform the local government of its determination on whether the project impacts historic property. In the letter, DHS communicated that the undertaking results “in a finding of No Historic Properties Affected”. The federal law in question does not give the County any opportunity to overrule that determination.

Generally, the Federal Government does not need to respect local zoning regulations that conflict with federal mandates (often referred to as the Supremacy Clause). As such, federal government entities historically have not sought the zoning approval of Washington County Government for projects and has not done so with respect to the property at 16220 Wright Road.

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.

For additional information, please contact Washington County’s Public Relations and Marketing Department at 240-313-2380.