ICE drops plan to turn Pennsylvania warehouses into detention sites

PHILADELPHIA (MNTV) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement has abandoned plans to convert two rural Pennsylvania warehouses into large-scale detention centers, ending a proposal that drew opposition over environmental, infrastructure, and public safety concerns.

ICE withdrew its appeal after the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection rejected permits for the drinking water and wastewater systems the facilities would have needed, with state officials finding that infrastructure in Berks and Schuylkill counties could not support the thousands of additional people the plan envisioned.

In a letter released by the department, ICE confirmed it would not use the properties as detention centers, without saying what it would do with them instead.

Governor Josh Shapiro had called the warehouses unfit to house people and warned the conversion could create serious health, safety, and infrastructure problems for surrounding communities.

The retreat is a window into how the detention buildout has worked.

The warehouse strategy came out of a broader push under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to acquire and lease large industrial properties for detention, and communities around the country complained they learned of proposed facilities only after deals were struck — little notice, little transparency, little regard for local services. Noem’s successor, Markwayne Mullin, has since paused new warehouse acquisitions.

The Pennsylvania case shows what stopped this one: not a policy judgment about whether warehouses are fit to hold people, but a permit the water system couldn’t clear.