Close Berks County Youth Detention Center Now

Pennsylvania is actively funding and facilitating the detention of immigrant youth at a Berks County facility — a choice our state makes, not a federal mandate we're forced to follow.

A letter to your state legislators. Facts checked July 29, 2026.

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The Letter

Subject Close the Berks County detention center and end ICE collaboration

I'm writing as your constituent, and I need you to know what happened at our state Capitol yesterday. More than 100 people from 15 Pennsylvania counties — parents, teachers, neighbors — came to Harrisburg to demand the same thing: stop locking up children in a state-funded detention center in Berks County and end Pennsylvania's cooperation with ICE. That's not a fringe position. That's families across this commonwealth saying enough.

Here's what troubles me most. Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars are paying to detain children. These are kids. Whatever you think about immigration policy at the federal level, I don't think most Pennsylvanians believe our state should be in the business of holding youth in a detention facility — especially when advocates have documented the conditions there for years and nothing has changed. Governor Shapiro now faces a real choice, and so do you. This isn't something that happened in Washington. This is happening here, funded by us.

I'm asking you to go on record calling on Governor Shapiro to close the Berks County youth detention center and end Pennsylvania's active collaboration with ICE. Your constituents are watching, and we deserve to know where you stand.

Please take a clear public position demanding the closure of the Berks County youth detention center and an end to state cooperation with ICE.

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I'm a constituent calling about the Berks County youth detention center. I want the representative to know that 100 people from across Pennsylvania showed up at the Capitol yesterday to demand it be closed — and I'm one of the people asking for that.
Pennsylvania taxpayer money is funding the detention of children. That's not a federal issue — that's our state's choice, and I think it's the wrong one.
I'm asking the representative to go on record publicly calling on Governor Shapiro to close the Berks County facility and end our state's collaboration with ICE.
This matters to me as a voter. I want to know my representative believes Pennsylvania shouldn't be detaining kids. I vote, and this is the kind of issue that shapes how I do.

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