UPPER BERN — Roughly 100 people protested this weekend outside the municipal building in the small Berks County township where ICE wants to convert a warehouse into an immigration detention center.
The gathering — the first protest near the warehouse since it was purchased — was planned by Allison Herr and Quentin Boussard, a couple who attend Franklin & Marshall College in nearby Lancaster.
Herr told Boussard she felt hopeless about ICE’s plans, and he suggested they do something, she told Spotlight PA. They used word of mouth, social media, and door-knocking to get the word out about the event.
“Even if there’s no direct impact today, so many people met others who feel the same way and will go home lighter and more hopeful,” Herr said.
On Feb. 2, the Trump administration quietly finalized the purchase of a nearly 520,000-square-foot vacant warehouse, formerly known as the Hamburg Logistics Center. Upper Bern Township officials and residents said they were blindsided.
Linda Alspach, a lifelong township resident, said that the area simply can’t handle the infrastructure demands, a concern she noted is bipartisan. State and township officials say the plan could overwhelm the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant, as well as burden emergency personnel such as firefighters.
A statement from the township also noted that it has no public water system. As Spotlight PA recently reported, state officials say the vacant warehouse is designed to draw from an on-site water well and a system not designed to deal with the level of anticipated demand.
“This is our community and our concern,” Alspach said.
For about two hours on Saturday, Berks County organizers from different groups and Upper Bern residents talked about ways to get involved. No public officials spoke. State Police remained a block away observing the protest.
Katie Jones, a 40-year-old Reading resident and lead organizer of Indivisible Berks, a group devoted to civic action, believes opposition must include influencing lawmakers.
“I am very aware that these warehouses are places between major Latino populations,” Jones said, referring to nearby Allentown and Reading.
First-time event organizers Herr and Boussard said they learned a lot from the demonstration, which solidified their belief that anyone can make a difference.
“Change doesn’t have to be just a city thing,” Herr said. “Even in the smallest of towns, people still care enough to do something.”