Through persistent reporting and wide-ranging outreach, AP uncovered a growing wave of local resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s plan to expand detention capacity through large-scale warehouse facilities.
Reporter Heather Hollingsworth cast a broad net, contacting officials in roughly two dozen cities to track how communities were responding to ICE proposals. Without relying on inside agency sources, she built relationships with local leaders and followed leads to identify where opposition — and support — was emerging.
For this story, Hollingsworth teamed with Rebecca Santana to focus on Hagerstown, Maryland, where local officials backed the plan despite vocal pushback from residents. The reporting highlighted the tension between economic incentives, political pressure and community concerns about large detention centers.
The package was strengthened by visual and data elements, including photos and video from Nathan Ellgren and Steve Helber, and a map by Phil Holm that illustrated the national scope of the issue. A sidebar by Hollingsworth expanded the reporting to show other communities pushing back against similar projects.
The result was a comprehensive, ground-up look at how immigration policy is playing out in towns across the country, giving voice to local leaders and residents navigating a controversial federal initiative.
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