The Department of Homeland Security has plans to open 23 detention centers nationwide. We recently learned that two of them would be in warehouses DHS purchased in Pennsylvania, in Berks and Schuylkill Counties. Nearly 12% of all of the 76,500 beds DHS intends to put in the 23 new facilities would be in the two separated by only 25 miles in rural Pennsylvania. The Berks facility would house 1,500 people while the Schuylkill facility would house a whopping 7,500 people.
Local, state, and even federal elected officials report that they were not informed of the purchases. There were no public meetings or hearings.
Had there been, DHS would have heard moral and ethical arguments against the plans. They would have heard about the lack of services and infrastructure available to serve, in the case of the Schuylkill County location, a prison population 30 times the size of the current local population. They would have heard about the loss of tax revenue of more than $1.6 million that would impact, among other things, the local school districts in both locations. They would have heard about safety concerns, particularly for the day care center that is 300 yards from the Schuylkill County location.
Facilities planned in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Virginia are facing stiff opposition or have already been defeated, thanks to communities and their elected officials coming together to say "No."
