Josh Shapiro tells Kristi Noem he’ll ‘aggressively pursue every option’ to block new ICE detention centers in Pa., in letter to DHS
Shapiro’s administration is questioning the legality of the facilities, saying his administration will "aggressively pursue every option to prevent these facilities from opening."
Gov. Josh Shapiro implored Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week to reconsider converting warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties into mass immigration detention centers, citing “real harms” to the communities.
In a Thursday letter to Noem obtained by The Inquirer, Shapiro questioned legality of the facilities, which the governor said could hold up to 9,000 people in total.
Hinting at a possible lawsuit, Shapiro said if DHS goes through with converting the sites his administration will “aggressively pursue every option to prevent these facilities from opening and needlessly harming the good people of Pennsylvania.”
As part of President Donald Trump’s expanding deportation agenda, the federal government has started purchasing warehouses across the country to flip into ICE detention centers. ICE is planning to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into detention centers, The Washington Post reported.
So far, two have been bought in Pennsylvania — a nearly 520,000-square-foot facility in Upper Bern Township and another in Tremont Township, where the purchase has drawn the ire of concerned residents.
Shapiro slammed the department’s escalating immigration enforcement strategy, saying that ICE and other federal immigration agents “resort to unnecessary and excessive force, leading to innocent people being injured or tragically killed.”
“Your Department’s record is reason enough to oppose your plan to use warehouses in Schuylkill and Berks Counties as detention centers,” Shapiro wrote, adding that the warehouses would also negatively impact residents’ health and safety, deplete tax revenue, and put extra stress on local communities and emergency response.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, confirmed ICE’s purchase of these two warehouses and the department’s plans to use them as detention facilities in a statement to The Inquirer Friday.
She said that the sites will “undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase” and that the facilities would create economic benefits, including bringing more than 11,000 jobs to the two Pennsylvania communities in total.
“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities,” McLaughlin said.
At an unrelated event last week the Democratic governor blasted the agency’s “secretive” purchase of the Berks County warehouse, saying he was not alerted of the decision ahead of time.
At the time, Shapiro said the state was exploring “what legal options we may have to stop” the ICE purchase but said those options were slim.
Shapiro has become more forceful in his opposition to federal immigration enforcement activities in recent weeks, especially since federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month.
He’s said the Trump administration’s strategies in American cities make communities less safe, violate constitutional rights and erode trust in law enforcement.
Shapiro, who is seen as a likely contender for the White House in 2028, is up for reelection this year. His likely November opponent is Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Trump-endorsed Republican who has urged cooperation with ICE.
In his letter to Noem, Shapiro said that DHS has not engaged local leaders to discuss the warehouse purchases and that both Democratic and Republican state and local officials have objected to the department’s “plans to interfere with our communities because of the chaos and harm your actions will bring.”
Some of Shapiro’s cabinet secretaries also penned an additional letter to Noem where they stressed that the facilities would be detrimental to the communities’ environment and public health and safety.
“The stress each facility will place on local infrastructure will, among other things, jeopardize Pennsylvanians’ access to safe water, deplete resources and infrastructure needed for emergencies, and overextend already strained emergency response personnel,” wrote Pennsylvania Health Secretary Debra L. Bogen, Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook, Emergency Management Director Randy Padfield, Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley, and Labor Secretary Nancy A. Walker.
In addition the warehouses, DHS is also leasing new office space throughout the country, including in the Philadelphia area. The department said back-office staff, including lawyers and analysts, will be moving into a building in Berwyn, and the department will also share space with the Department of Motor Vehicles at 8th and Arch Street in Center City, WIRED reported.
Despite the governor’s vocal opposition to Trump’s enforcement strategies, Pennsylvania still cooperates with ICE. Shapiro’s administration honors some ICE detainers in state prisons and provides ICE with access to state databases that include personal identifying information for immigrants.
Immigrant rights groups have for months called on Shapiro to take more decisive action against federal immigration enforcement in Pennsylvania and end all cooperation with the agency.
Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed reporting.