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A suburban Maryland board meeting was taken off the air after whistling and protests erupted moments after officials approved a resolution endorsing cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including the purchase of a warehouse in Williamsport that sparked Democratic outrage.
A few miles south of the Hagerstown meeting, DHS had completed the purchase of the $102 million property in Williamsport, just across the Potomac River from Falling Waters, West Virginia, and about 75 miles from Washington, D.C.
The property soon became the site of protests, including a video posted by Total Wine billionaire David Trone, who is running for his former U.S. House seat, in which he stood by a snowbank behind the center and declared ICE was “executing people” and did not belong in Maryland.
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Washington County Board President John Barr slammed his gavel Tuesday as outrage erupted over the resolution, declaring the “safety and security of our community is of utmost importance” and that “DHS [and] ICE play a crucial role in safeguarding our nation’s borders and is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, protecting the country from potential threats and maintaining the rule of law for public safety.”
Barr’s voice vote appeared to reflect most if not all board members saying “aye” but elicited “nay!” and “no” from the audience, and people began loudly whistling, clapping and pointing at Barr.
Barr calmly announced, “Clear the room,” and a broadcast producer could be heard saying, “Off air! Off air” before the TV feed was cut.
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Outside the building on Washington Street, a throng of anti-ICE protesters similarly whistled and waved signs that said “no concentration camps” and “No ICE Jail.”
“These ICE facilities; they’re inhumane; I don’t want them here,” protester Richard Hartman told Baltimore’s NBC affiliate.
Two counter-protesters waved signs saying “Trump is Your President” and “We Love ICE.”
Maryland federal lawmakers urged the county not to pass the resolution. Rep. April McClain Delaney, who Trone is facing in the primary, called the plan “sweeping and dangerous” and forged in “darkness.”
“[It] is yet another example of the Trump administration acting without transparency, accountability or regard for human life,” she said.
Washington County sits in a transitional area. To the east, deep blue Washington suburbs reliably vote Democrat. To the west, “Mountain Maryland” and the Maryland panhandle form a Republican-friendly bastion, though they are grouped with some of the aforementioned suburbs in a congressional district that trends blue.
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Closer to the nation’s capital, officials in once-moderate Howard County blocked another ICE center in Elkridge, according to the Baltimore station.
To the north in Pennsylvania, Democrats have opposed similar transactions, including a center just off US-22 in Shartlesville, a rural community recently home to the now-defunct Roadside America attraction.
In a statement to Fox News Digital about the Williamsport center, Trone said ICE has “detained children as young as 5 years old, American citizens and military veterans.”
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“ICE only needs to expand its detention space because reprehensible legislation was passed by Congress — with the support of Rep. April McClain Delaney — that strips due process rights and expands this administration’s ability to carry out this cruel agenda.”
Republicans running for the seat, including Robin Ficker and Chris Burnett, have signaled support for immigration enforcement, and state Del. Neil Parrott of Hagerstown, who has formed an exploratory committee but not formally declared, said as much in prior comments to Fox News Digital.
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