US Rep. Dan Meuser (PA-9) says the proposed ICE detention center in Tremont Township “is not definite” now with the change in secretaries at the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, the head of Schuylkill County Municipal Authority said his board of directors would “have to be in a position to deny” plans for such a facility as they’ve been stated.
Meuser spoke with Coal Region Canary about the latest on the proposed 7,500-bed detention center following Pottsville Mayor Tom Smith’s State of the City Address on Friday at Majestic Theater.
In January, the federal government spent $119 million to purchase the former Big Lots distribution center in Tremont Township with apparent plans to transform it into one of the largest immigrant detention centers in the country. It was part of deportation strategy implemented by then-DHS Sect. Kristi Noem.
Noem has since been replaced by former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin who, during his confirmation hearing, said ICE needs to reconsider its deportation strategy. And based on Meuser’s comments Friday in Pottsville, that strategy includes the department’s purchase of several large former warehouses across the country, including the one in Schuylkill County and another in Upper Bern Township in Berks County.
Earlier this month, the DHS Office of Inspector General announced that it is conducting an audit of ICE’s acquisition of detention spaces across the country, including the facilities in Schuylkill and Berks counties. The goal of that audit, according to the DHS website is “to determine to what extent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement purchased and converted facilities for detention space that meets its operational need in a cost-effective manner.”
Meuser said he’s been in contact with Mullin on at least a weekly basis regarding the proposed detention centers in Pennsylvania, both of which are in his district.
“I’m working directly with the Secretary. I talk to him at least once a week. As you can probably tell, things have not advanced,” Meuser said.
Regarding moving forward with the plans to transform the Tremont Township property into an ICE detention center, the Congressman said there is “not a lot of progress with the change in secretaries. He’s trying to do things differently, do things better. There’s really been no developments, no renovations taking place.”
A big reason – outside of the ICE plans that appear to be in limbo now – for the lack of progress at the Tremont Township facility is action taken by the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection in February. After meeting with Schuylkill and Berks officials in Leesport, Gov. Josh Shapiro used DEP to put at least a temporary stop to any advancements on turning the warehouses into detention centers.
Shapiro ordered DHS, Tremont Township, and Schuylkill County Municipal Authority (SCMA) to essentially limit water use at the warehouse to only that needed for fire protection. As part of a package of concerns sent by Schuylkill County government officials to DHS was the reality that there isn’t enough water and sewer capacity at the former Big Lots warehouse to sustain having 7,500 detainees and the employees needed to operate it inside the building.
DHS has challenged the DEP orders against it to the state’s Environmental Hearing Board. The local entities affected by those DEP orders have stood down in the face of them.
ICE Detention Center “Not Definite”
SCMA: “We simply don’t have the supply.”
Since DHS purchased the warehouse property in Tremont Township earlier this year, essentially zero progress has been made to transform it into the proposed detention center.
Meuser told The Canary, “We’re just waiting to see what the next step is and whether or not, frankly, it even comes to fruition is not definite. The community will be the first to know as soon as I know.”
And even if DHS were to start advancing plans – which it admitted to DEP it did not have in writing – for the detention center in Tremont Township, there simply isn’t enough water capacity in the area to serve it and the infrastructure in place couldn’t handle the output.
At an SCMA board meeting last week, executive director Patrick Caulfield said they have not been contacted by DHS since the purchase of the property. He said in order to serve the proposed detention center with the water and sewer capacity it would need, DHS would need to bring plans showing where or how it’s planning to get the water needed and how to remove the sewage. Only then, he said, could SCMA issue it a “Will Serve” letter to allow it to move forward.
“As we sit here right now, we have not be reached out to by the federal government, DHS, ICE to request any water or sewer,” Caulfield.
Addressing public comments from Joe Wiscount, a Tremont resident who has consistently expressed concerns about the water and sewage capacity in the area, even without the ICE detention center, Caulfield added that SCMA has plenty of experience serving facilities like the proposed detention center. SCMA serves water to Schuylkill County Prison in Pottsville, the State Correctional Institutions at Mahanoy and Frackville, and the federal prison at Minersville.
He said even if the federal government were to come forward with a plan, and despite any DEP orders against it to serve the facility, SCMA simply doesn’t have the supply to meet the demand of what DHS had been proposing.
“There’s absolutely, positively no way, in our supply and our sources, and our storage … We were clear with (DEP) that we felt that if a request of any sort of magnitude would come, we would have to be in a position to deny it because we simply don’t have the supply,” Caulfield said.
Schuylkill Commissioners Again Pressed to Publicly Oppose Detention Center
At last week’s Schuylkill County Commissioners meeting, the board was once again asked to pass a resolution formally opposing the proposed detention center.
Commissioner Gary Hess once again said he would support such a resolution.
Hess said, “I’ve always spoken out against this detention center. If a resolution came in front of me, I would sign it.
“It’s the federal government. They snuck in here, did what they wanted to do. We need to make a stand and say it’s no good for our people,” he added.
Hess said he believes a large portion of Schuylkill County residents would agree with him that they are not in favor of hosting the ICE detention center here.
Commissioners Larry Padora and Boots Hetherington did not give such an indication that they’d sign a resolution opposing the facility. However, each did speak about the proposed facility now that it’s been several months since it was purchased and nothing has happened.
Hetherington said, “In my mind, it’s going to fizzle.”
Padora added that he’s “amazed that they even bought it.
“I, in a million years, didn’t think they were going to buy that property because of the water, sewer, and the logistics of it,” he added.
He added that he’s continuing to press DHS on the verbal committments it made to Schuylkill County regarding the loss of property tax revenue, which is equal to about $1 million annually between the County government, Tremont Township, and Pine Grove Area School District.
“I want the (Payment) In Lieu of Taxes,” he said.
Further, he said if the federal government no longer wants the property, it should “turn it over to the County and I’ll find a use for it.”
FULL COVERAGE
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