Here’s why we think the ‘ICE Warehouse List’ is fake

While DHS ICE has not replied to our request for more information regarding the supposed “ICE Warehouse List” being circulated on social media, our research strongly indicates that this is a fake, and was in fact partially based on our previous coverage of this issue, not a real document produced by DHS. Simply put, the addresses don’t match reality, and neither does the math.

UPDATE: Since publishing this article, evidence has surfaced that the Hagerstown warehouse in question may have been sold. We will continue to monitor this situation to determine the validity of ICE establishing a processing facility in Hagerstown.

Because we can’t verify its authenticity, we’re not going to publish the full list, but instead publish a redacted version which allows us to illustrate the inconsistencies which make us question this list.

The first indicator that this list is a fraud is the classification label. It’s not a standard label format for usage in internal documents. Below is an example.

Based on this example, if the list was indeed “For Official Use Only” it would have likely been labeled (U//FOUO) or even (U//FOUO//LES) to indicate it’s law enforcement sensitive.

But what’s even more interesting is that the address listed for Hagerstown is not the address of a real warehouse, but in fact the address of the intersection of Wright Road and Hopewell Road. There is a warehouse at this location, but it’s listed with a Wright Road address instead of Hopewell Road.

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So where did the creator get “10900 Hopewell Road” from? Most likely someone read our previous coverage, which indicated that the Hopewell Road corridor could be a potential location for an ICE warehouse. A quick Google search of “Hopewell Road Warehouse Hagerstown” and 10900 Hopewell Road is the first “vacant” warehouse on the list, and in fact the first search result. But the 10900 Hopewell Road address was just a placeholder until the real address was established, which is 16220 Wright Road.

So clearly this isn’t a list of warehouses that ICE has already established contracts with. But do the numbers even check out when looking at the square footage?

The Hagerstown warehouse is listed at 825,000 sqft for 1,500 people. That’s 550 sqft per person for a processing facility. But some of the other facilities have much different ratios. For example, the Marshall County facility lists 798,000 sqft for 8,500 people. That’s 93 sqft per person. While that sounds like a lot, when you take into account the fact that a detention facility needs showers, mess hall, laundry, administrative areas, and medical facilities, 93 sqft per person for a facility isn’t nearly enough.

To put this in perspective, let’s look at MCI-H in Hagerstown.

With 648,574 sqft as of 2021, and an operating capacity of 656, that’s a little over 980 sqft total facility footprint per inmate. There is absolutely no way whatsoever that ICE is going to fit 8,500 people into a 798,000 sqft facility. It’s not logistically possible. The Hagerstown facility with 550 sqft per person might be doable, but even then we’re talking very tight fit.

The math doesn’t work, the address for the Hagerstown facility doesn’t match reality, and the classification label is just wrong.

Unless we hear back from ICE saying otherwise, we firmly believe this document is a fake.

Story by Ken Buckler, based upon information from the viral ‘ICE Warehouse List’, internet searches for warehouses in Hagerstown, and the State of Maryland.

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