Plans to transform two warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties into Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities — which have drawn stiff pushback from local communities — have been shelved.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman issued a statement Monday saying he was pleased to confirm the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will not be moving forward with detention facilities in Upper Bern and Tremont townships.
The Pennsylvania properties were each bought by ICE earlier this year as part of a nationwide effort to convert former warehouses into detention facilities.
The Berks warehouse in Upper Bern Township is a 527,000-square-foot building at 3501 Mountain Road purchased in late January for $87.4 million. Officials from ICE said it would be renovated to hold 1,500 people as a processing center.
In Schuylkill, a 1.3-million-square-foot former Big Lots distribution center in Tremont Township was purchased by ICE for $119 million and was planned to house up to 7,500 people as a detention center.
ICE planned to use the Big Lots Distribution Center at 50 Rausch Creek Road in Tremont Township as a detention facility. (FILE)
Fetterman said in his statement that he appreciated that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin recognized the negative impacts these facilities would have — including the direct threat to local economies and infrastructure — and canceled these plans.
“I will continue to work toward solutions with the administration and my Senate colleagues that properly address the broken immigration system while ensuring that our communities and law-abiding migrants are safe and protected,” the statement read.
The New York Times was the first to report that the plans for the facilities in Upper Bern and Tremont were scrapped on Thursday. Based on documents the newspaper obtained both sites were included on a list of seven warehouse properties set to be offloaded by ICE.
The seven properties, purchased for a combined $700 million, will be given to other federal agencies or sold, according to the Times.
Officials from the DHS did not directly address the sites in Berks and Schuylkill in a response to questions from the Reading Eagle last week. Instead, they issued a short statement saying the agency is focused on existing detention sites.
Local officials and community members — as well as state officials including Gov. Josh Shapiro — had pushed back on ICE’s plans for the two sites, citing the potential drain on local resources and environmental impact.
Among opponents’ concerns was that the influx in population they would create would strain water and sewer systems and create difficulties for local fire and police departments. Some opponents also objected to the recent methods ICE has deployed and the reported conditions at some existing ICE facilities.