Bucks Co. Opposes Using Warehouses Here For I.C.E. Detention Centers

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Bucks County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a resolution opposing the use of any warehouses in Bucks County as federal immigration detention centers.

In a unanimous vote, the commissioners adopted the resolution opposing the conversion of industrial warehouses anywhere in Bucks County into facilities for the processing and/or detention of Immigration Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) detainees.

The resolution also reaffirms the county’s longstanding cooperation with federal law enforcement – including on immigration matters – while making note of recent reports detailing poor conditions of confinement and alleged mistreatment of detainees held in immigrant detention facilities.

“While there’s no doubt some legal or zoning reasons why this is not a good idea, we have a moral imperative to oppose the treatment of people that we’re seeing play out around the country,” said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “We see what’s happening in the streets, and we read fragments of what’s happening behind closed doors. Today’s resolution is this Board making clear that we will not be tolerating that activity here.”

The resolution comes as the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved to purchase or lease industrial warehouses across the country, including warehouse space in nearby Berks and Schuylkill counties, to use as detention facilities.

“Bucks County is not a county that needs or wants a detention facility,” said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “I want it to be perfectly clear – whether it’s right now, or a month, a year from now – we do not want, and the commissioners are opposed to, a detention facility for I.C.E. here in Bucks County.”

DiGirolamo said there had been some talk about one being located in Bensalem and another in Middletown. "I don't care where anyone lives in Bucks County, this is not a county that needs or wants a detention facility," he said. "It is not appropriate for our county. Not at all."

DiGirolamo said he was happy to see that Bucks County Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick had issued a statement on Tuesday, also opposed to any detention facilities in the county.

"In part of that statement, he said he spoke with the Department of Homeland Security and they assured him that they are not looking in Bucks County for a detention facility," said DiGirolamo. " I've been in government for 32 years, and I know that what might be true one day might not be true a day, a week, or a month from now."

The resolution echoes concerns raised earlier this month by Gov. Josh Shapiro in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, and warns of hazards that mass detention facilities built in areas not meant for human occupation would pose to both public health and public safety.

“I agree, obviously, with Commissioner DiGirolamo that this county is no place for these kinds of facilities, but I’ll expand that – this country is no place for these kinds of facilities,” said Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie, drawing comparisons to the internment of Japanese-Americans and some Italian-born residents during World War II. “At some point, we have to think back to who we are as a country and stand up for what’s right. This is doing that.”

Harvie said the county is aware of an effort to look at a property in Bensalem for the potential of an I.C.E. warehouse. "That intention was rebuffed by the owner of the property, who was not interested in selling or leasing the property. We also know that the eyes then turned to Middletown and a couple of the facilities that are built on the former Reedman-Toll property."

Harvie continued, "We also know from a prominent land development attorney in this county that he has clients who are besieged by phone calls from people looking to purchase warehouse property because they know they can sell them to the federal government, which has allocated about $38 billion for this particular endeavor."

Click here to read the full text of the resolution.