A location in Schuylkill County has been identified as a proposed home for a new immigration detention facility, The Washington Post is reporting based on a draft federal solicitation.
This proposed facility would be part of a sweeping Trump administration plan to house 80,000 detainees in converted warehouses nationwide.
Internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, outline a strategy to renovate industrial warehouses to speed up deportations.
One of those locations is listed by WaPo as Tremont.
If this report is proven accurate and the Tremont location is used, it would serve as a processing facility, one of 16 nationwide, that temporarily houses up to 1,500 detainees before they’re moved to larger, regional hubs that hold up to 10,000 people.
Currently, the former Big Lots Distribution Center in Tremont Township is empty. However, no local officials were available for comment on Friday.
There are currently no proposals like this before the Schuylkill County Planning Commission or Zoning Hearing Board.
The draft solicitation, which ICE plans to share with private detention companies this week, marks a shift from shuttling detainees to available beds toward a deliberate “feeder system.”
Under the plan, WaPo reports, newly arrested immigrants would be held at processing sites before being moved to these warehouse facilities for deportation.
ICE Acting Director Todd M. Lyons described the logistical goal as modeling the efficiency of Amazon.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” Lyons said at a border security conference in April, according to Washington Post reporting, noting the goal was to move people “like Prime, but with human beings.”
The solicitation indicates ICE intends to heavily modify industrial structures to include intake areas, housing units, medical facilities, and law libraries. However, commercial real estate experts warned that warehouses – designed for storage rather than habitation – often lack necessary ventilation, temperature controls, and sanitation systems to support full-time residents.
The project timeline remains fluid. The draft solicitation is subject to change, though documents state that facilities must begin accepting detainees 30 to 60 days after construction or renovation begins.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the reporting or answer questions regarding the warehouse plan, Washington Post reports.
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