ICE abandons plans to convert 2 rural Pennsylvania warehouses into detention centers

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The federal government has abandoned plans to turn two warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties into immigration detention centers. Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the move Wednesday, citing letters from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dated July 13 that withdrew its request for drinking water and sewage permits.

The DHS had announced plans in January to house 9,000 people at the former warehouses in rural Pennsylvania. The letters do not indicate how the two properties would be used.

The controversial project faced opposition from local residents and advocacy groups.

“This is an important victory for our communities, and it happened because people in Berks and Schuylkill counties organized and refused to let ICE warehouse thousands of people in their backyards,” said Miguel Andrade of the Shut Down Detention Campaign.

Andrade said the $207 million the federal government used to purchase the warehouses “should have been invested in people, not detention.”

Shapiro had opposed the conversion of the facilities into detention centers because of the large volume of water needed, which he said would have impacted local residents and the environment.

“From the beginning, I’ve been clear that these warehouses should not be used as ICE detention centers because they are not suitable for people and converting them to detention centers would have posed serious risks to the health, safety, and infrastructure of the surrounding communities,” Shapiro said in a statement. “My Administration stood with local leaders and residents, enforced Pennsylvania law, and worked across agencies to protect people from being held in these warehouses and to protect the surrounding communities.”

In March, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued orders to DHS prohibiting it from using the site as a detention center. DEP estimated that the two facilities would require 800,000 gallons of water per day and strain the local sewage system. DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley said the detention centers would double the population of the small communities and could result in “polluted waterways from overwhelmed sewage facilities leaking raw waste into our streets and rivers.”

“There are serious concerns about the environmental impacts of these actions,” Shirley said at the time. “The conversion of warehouses to detention facilities risks harming the communities in and around Tremont and Upper Bern townships, overwhelming their sewage facilities and exceeding the available drinking water supply.”