Maryland county wins federal ban on ICE detention facility siting
H.R. 7470 — Keep ICE Out of Washington County, Maryland Act · Filed by April McClain Delaney (D-MD) · Introduced Feb 10, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill prohibits the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from establishing, operating, expanding, or reopening any immigration detention or holding facility in Washington County, Maryland. It bars federal funding for such facilities and gives residents, local officials, Members of Congress, and the State of Maryland standing to sue in federal court to enforce the prohibition.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a geographic prohibition on federal detention facility siting, coupled with enforcement standing for local residents and state officials. It is fundamentally a land-use and community-control measure, not an immigration policy reform.
What the text implies
- The bill does not reform ICE detention practices nationally or address the constitutional concerns raised in the findings—it only prevents siting in one county, leaving detention operations and conditions unchanged elsewhere.
- Enforcement standing granted to 'any resident' and 'any Member of Congress' creates potential for political litigation and may invite similar single-jurisdiction prohibition bills for other counties.
- The bill's findings criticize ICE detention conditions and due-process violations but the operative text does not address those harms—it is a geographic carve-out, not a systemic reform.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Residents of Washington County gain local control over land use and protection from a facility that the bill's findings document as having negative public health, housing, and infrastructure impacts. The bill respects community input on federal siting decisions and provides enforceable legal remedies to prevent unwanted federal detention infrastructure.
Named in the bill
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Washington County, Maryland, State of Maryland, United States District Court for the District of Maryland
Where it stands
- Feb 10, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 10, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Homeland Security and House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,823 characters) on Apr 30, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Maryland county wins federal ban on ICE detention facility siting” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7470 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.