Overview
- A July 13 DHS letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection confirmed ICE will not use the Upper Bern Township and Tremont Township properties as detention centers.
- Pennsylvania denied the required drinking water and wastewater permits and ICE formally withdrew its appeal of those denials, cutting off the infrastructure needed to house thousands of people.
- The two purchased sites had been slated for roughly 9,000 beds combined, with plans for about 1,500 in Berks County and 7,500 in Schuylkill County.
- Gov. Josh Shapiro, local officials and residents credited regulatory enforcement and community opposition for blocking the conversions and the DEP said it will continue monitoring the properties.
- The decision fits a wider DHS pullback from a reported roughly $38 billion plan to buy and retrofit warehouses after leadership changes and legal and oversight scrutiny, and ICE has not said what the properties will be used for next.