HARRISBURG — Stacy Garrity’s gubernatorial campaign won’t clarify where the Republican stands on ICE detention centers, only saying the proposals in Pennsylvania “warrant serious review” and that sitting Gov. Josh Shapiro’s opposition to them is “posturing.”
A spokesperson for Garrity told Spotlight PA that she “will work with any president in the best interests of Pennsylvania, regardless of party,” when asked several specific questions about her stance on the plans and how she would work with the Trump administration on the issue.
In a February statement, Garrity, who was first elected treasurer in 2020, was highly critical of Shapiro while being similarly vague about her position. She said the state needs “a governor who will review issues with the seriousness that they deserve and not follow the political winds as their guide.”
Shapiro, a Democrat running for his second term, has said he will use “every tool at his disposal” to prevent ICE from opening facilities in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, which would hold an estimated 9,000 detainees between them. He’s cited concerns — echoed by local officials — that the converted warehouses would stress public services like water and sewer systems, and that the federal government gave officials no advance notice of the purchases.
Manuel Bonder, spokesman for Shapiro’s campaign, criticized Garrity for her “allegiance” to Trump and said “there is no question she would be a rubber stamp for these proposals.”
“Whether she's defending him on ICE, the Epstein files, or the higher costs and health care cuts he brought our Commonwealth — not a day goes by where Garrity isn't most focused on what's best for Trump,” Bonder said.
The federal government’s move to build processing and detention facilities around the country has prompted a scramble in affected states to push back. While other states have filed lawsuits to block similar centers, the Shapiro administration has so far taken a different approach.
In March, the Department of Environmental Protection issued administrative orders to federal and local authorities saying the facilities could not be supplied with water or sewage until the Department of Homeland Security complies with several regulations.
“Doubling the populations of these areas could drain drinking water sources and lead to polluted waterways from overwhelmed sewage facilities leaking raw waste into our streets and rivers,” DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley said in a statement. “Just like anyone else, DHS needs to demonstrate its facilities comply with environmental standards.”
ICE has asked Pennsylvania for more time to address concerns and to loosen water and sewage regulations so it can operate the facilities at the same levels used when the buildings were warehouses.
That request concerned Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which has opposed Trump’s policies cracking down on immigration.
“The fact that they have now admitted that they haven’t really planned on or written out a plan on how they’re going to deal with essential things like drinking water and sewage means that a lot could go wrong,” Walczak said. “Because there’s going to be interaction with waterways, once those get contaminated or polluted, the consequences of those spread wherever that water goes beyond the immediate vicinity of the detention centers.”
On March 24, DEP rejected ICE’s requests in a pair of letters. The state also asked for more information from ICE, including engineering evaluations of both buildings that include water and wastewater plans for each facility.
“To evaluate the majority of your requests and provide meaningful responses, DEP must see ICE’s work to date,” state officials wrote in both letters.
Neither ICE nor DHS responded to a request for comment.
Walczak said it is “well within the governor’s charge to enforce state environmental laws.”
Maryland’s attorney general sued the Trump administration in February over an ICE facility planned there, and New Jersey sued this month — both citing, in part, environmental concerns similar to those Pennsylvania noted in its administrative orders.
Shapiro hasn’t said whether he’ll pursue any legal actions, though he often touts that he has successfully sued the Trump administration 19 times.
Garrity’s campaign dismissed Shapiro’s actions as politically motivated in its February news release, arguing he is “grandstanding” using taxpayer dollars and that “Pennsylvanians deserve a governor who will put their security and their safety first, and a governor who will review issues with the seriousness that they deserve and not follow the political winds as their guide.”
The campaign added that Garrity, a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel, “commanded one of the largest enemy internment camps in Iraq.”
“I understand the seriousness of protecting our nation from threats, and I also appreciate the importance of treating those in care and custody with dignity and respect,” the release quoted her as saying.
Shapiro’s office has said that while representation in the lawsuits is taxpayer-funded, many cases have helped return millions of dollars in promised federal money rescinded by Trump.
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