I'm writing because I'm concerned about what almost happened in our own backyard — and what could still happen. Earlier this year, ICE quietly purchased two warehouses in Schuylkill and Berks Counties and tried to convert them into immigration detention centers without meaningful input from the people who live nearby. They fought all the way to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board before dropping their appeal on July 16th. They lost this round, but nothing stops them from trying again somewhere else in Pennsylvania — including our district.
This isn't just an immigration debate. It's about whether a federal agency can buy up a warehouse, skip the line on environmental review, and pack hundreds of people into a facility that the local community had no real voice in approving. Our Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection exists for exactly this kind of situation — to make sure that what gets built in our communities doesn't poison the water or overload the sewer systems that our families depend on. When outside agencies try to sidestep that process, it puts everyone at risk: the people detained there, and the neighbors living down the road.
I'm asking you to support legislation requiring any new detention facility in Pennsylvania to go through a full state environmental and public notice review before operations begin. Our communities should never be the last to know what's going in next door. Please take action now to close the loophole that let these warehouse conversions nearly slip through without proper oversight.
