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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is pushing back hard against federal plans to ramp up immigration enforcement in the state, warning that his administration will fight to block two proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities from opening in Berks and Schuylkill counties.
Shapiro voiced his opposition during a Sunday (February 22) appearance on ABC's This Week, telling viewers, "We do not want that kind of chaos in our communities," and urging ICE to stay out of Pennsylvania.
The Warehouses at the Center of the Fight
The two sites in question are a nearly 520,000-square-foot warehouse in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, and a former Big Lots distribution center in Tremont Township, Schuylkill County. According to reporting by Spotlight PA via ABC27, the Berks County site is planned as a processing center for roughly 1,500 people, while the Schuylkill County site is slated to be a mega detention center housing up to 7,500 people.
The purchases are part of a sweeping $38.3 billion ICE plan to expand detention capacity nationwide, funded through congressional appropriations tied to what the agency calls the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." The memo outlining the plan describes a network of eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing centers, all set to open by November 30.
Shapiro's Letter to Homeland Security
Shapiro has also sent a formal letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, demanding she reconsider the plan. According to WGAL, the governor warned, "If you press ahead, my administration will aggressively pursue every option to prevent these facilities from opening and needlessly harming the good people of Pennsylvania."
State officials have raised serious concerns about the facilities' impact on local water and sewer systems. In the letter, Shapiro and state agency officials wrote that the proposed facilities would overburden water and sewer resources in both townships, adding, "State authorities will not issue required permits that would violate these legal requirements."
ICE's Claims vs. Local Concerns
ICE maintains it conducted engineering reviews for each site and found no "detrimental effect" on local infrastructure. The agency also says it will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impact of projects.
But those assurances clash with what local and state officials are saying on the ground. Community members in Berks and Schuylkill counties have packed county and township meetings in recent weeks, urging local officials to block the development.
U.S. Representative Dan Meuser, a Republican whose district includes both sites, said he is seeking answers but has not taken a firm stance against the facilities. "I share many of the same questions being raised by local officials and residents," Meuser told Spotlight PA, adding that he will "continue to monitor these facilities and provide oversight to ensure they operate responsibly."
Experts Weigh In
Immigration experts say the plan represents a major shift in how the federal government handles detention. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told Spotlight PA the plan would "essentially rebuild the system from scratch," moving away from a patchwork of private prison contracts toward a federally controlled network of large facilities.
Keith Armstrong, an immigrants' rights attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, called the approach a "dramatic shift and scaling up of the deportation machine." Armstrong noted that the memo's proposed timelines — as short as three to seven days at processing centers and up to 60 days at detention centers — suggest ICE is trying to speed up the removal process significantly. "Completing the entire process in a maximum of 67 days, as this document would indicate, would be very, very fast," he said.
The ACLU has previously flagged serious concerns about ICE detention conditions in Pennsylvania. In 2024, the organization filed a federal complaint alleging detainees at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County endured inhumane conditions and lacked access to basic medical care. Two reported deaths occurred at that facility in 2025.
As of now, ICE has not responded to questions about a Pennsylvania-specific assessment, and the Shapiro administration says it has not received any memo directly related to the state's facilities. The governor's office has made clear it intends to use every available legal tool to halt the project.