READING — Gov. Josh Shapiro says he will use “every tool at his disposal” to stop planned ICE detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, though he stopped short of discussing what levers his administration may pull.
Following a bipartisan meeting of local officials on Thursday, Shapiro reaffirmed his strong opposition to the facilities but said he wanted to be careful about “projecting” the specific legal steps that may be taken. Earlier this week, Maryland’s attorney general filed a lawsuit to block a detention center there.
“I've taken this president to court 19 times [as governor], not lost a single case,” Shapiro said in a news conference after the meeting. “Part of the reason why we're so successful is we don't forecast all of it ahead of time. We dot our i's, we cross our t's.”
Shapiro hosted the meeting at the Berks County Agricultural Center in Bern Township to privately speak with local commissioners and state representatives about the proposed facilities. He did not present any new information about the facilities during the news conference, but he said the common theme among the gathered elected officials was concern about the impact on local communities.
Tremont Township in Schuylkill County, where ICE has planned a 7,500-bed detention center, for example, would run out of water within 24 hours of the facility opening and would need to triple its water capacity, Shapiro said.
“Let me explain what that means to the average homeowner nearby on that system,” Shapiro said. “That means that they literally won't be able to turn on the water in their kitchen and fill up a pot of water. They won't be able to flush the toilet.”
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement to Spotlight PA that the planned facilities in Tremont and Upper Bern Township “will undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase.” The representative, whom ICE did not name in the email to Spotlight PA, also said the agency expected the facilities to create 11,000 jobs and bring in more than $283.4 million in tax revenue.
It is unclear how ICE calculated its estimate or if the agency completed an economic assessment.
Shapiro contradicted ICE’s general claims and said the facilities would hurt, not help, the local economies, as well as take water, sewer, health care, and emergency services resources from residents.
“We want to be able to create the kind of jobs that are going to be family-sustaining,” Shapiro said. “We want to create the kind of jobs that aren't going to undermine the trust in the community between law enforcement and the neighbors that they serve and protect.”
The governor also warned that local providers are already struggling to meet current health care needs, and the current system does not have the capacity to absorb thousands of ICE detainees.
“You go add 9,000 people to two warehouses in this region. The federal government is either going to pull away health care personnel from existing health care facilities for the community, or they're not going to be able to have the kind of health care that is needed to be able to care for those who are in those facilities,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro and several cabinet officials sent Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem letters earlier this month, warning her that the administration would not issue required state permits for the centers if initial reporting about the facilities is accurate.
Shapiro expanded Thursday and said his administration is exploring “a number of regulatory steps” through the departments of environmental protection, health, and labor and industry to stop the development of the facilities.
“I’m not going to get into specific steps we are going to take, but I can assure you, over the next couple of weeks or so, we’ll be prepared to take them,” Shapiro said.
At least two other states have had recent success in preventing or slowing the progress of similar facilities.
Maryland sued the Trump administration earlier this week, claiming that the federal government violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not conducting an environmental review or seeking public input prior to purchasing and making plans to retrofit a facility in Washington County.
The federal government recently dropped plans to build an ICE facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, after Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte met with Noem in Washington, D.C. That meeting happened after Ayotte faced weeks of pushback from residents and local elected leaders.
Two of the three Berks County commissioners have stopped short of condemning the ICE facility, but have said they were frustrated by the federal government’s lack of transparency. They are also concerned about the impact on local communities, especially since the facility would be exempt from local property taxes. Commissioners Christian Leinbach and Michael Rivera, both Republicans, said at a town hall meeting Feb. 11 that they needed to learn more about the facility before taking an opinion on whether to support it.
Commissioner Dante Santoni, the lone Democrat of the group, vocally opposed the processing center at the same town hall meeting, saying it would be harmful to the community’s finances and morale.
Leinbach and Santoni attended a virtual meeting on Monday with DHS officials organized by U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.). Leinbach told Spotlight PA that few of their questions were answered, but he expected another meeting in the near future.
“Schuylkill County and Berks County did not throw any softballs,” Leinbach said.
They did learn that DHS expects to use an onsite sewer tank system, Leinbach said. In that case, it would be separate from the local sewer system, which residents have worried will be overused by the facility. He did not know if the system — which would be routinely pumped, with waste taken to a treatment plant — would require a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Shapiro said Thursday that even if the refuse is trucked to a treatment facility, DEP would need to be involved. Additionally, he criticized the impact running sewer and water to the sites would have on local traffic and roadway infrastructure.
His concerns also extended to the care of people housed in each facility. Shapiro said the leaders gathered, both Democrats and Republicans, shared concerns about safety in the facilities.
“I'm extremely concerned about human rights abuses that we've seen from ICE all across this country, and I do not want that coming here to Pennsylvania, which is why we're organizing and mobilizing to do everything we can to stop it,” Shapiro said. “I think the concerns about human rights are very real. By the way, we heard it from Republican and Democratic officeholders in this meeting.”