This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/gooddayberks.
UPPER BERN — The Trump administration on Feb. 2 finalized the $87.4 million purchase of a warehouse in Berks County that county officials say will be used as an ICE processing facility.
Here’s what we know so far:
This story will be regularly updated. It was last published at 5:52 p.m. on Feb.13 .
What do we know about the warehouse?
The warehouse at 3501 Mountain Road has never been used, but it was initially designed and constructed as a commercial facility. The property is located in an area of Upper Bern Township that is zoned for industrial development.
Transwestern Development Company completed construction in 2021 and later sold the warehouse to PCCP, a national commercial real estate equity firm, for $57.5 million. Since it was built and placed on the market, the property has remained vacant while generating about $199,620 annually in county property taxes, $31,229 in township taxes, and $597,110 for the Hamburg Area School District.
A marketing brochure for the Hamburg Logistics Center describes the warehouse as a “state-of-the-art logistics center” designed for large-scale distribution operations.
Why did ICE purchase the warehouse?
ICE recently purchased warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, but the agency has not publicly shared any specifics about how it plans to use them.
Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach told around 80 residents Feb. 11 at a town hall meeting that U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican who represents the county, confirmed it would be used as a processing facility. A similar development in Tremont, Schuylkill County, will be the local detention center, Leinbach said.
The processing center may also be operated by a private firm, instead of ICE, Leinbach said. Leinbach said he learned of the possibility through the County Solicitor Christine Sadler, but she could not confirm the information.
Internal documents obtained by multiple local and national news outlets show a broad push by the Trump administration to acquire commercial warehouses as part of a plan to expand immigrant detention across the country, an effort funded by $45 billion approved by Congress through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Department of Homeland Security was poised to receive additional funding through September, but The Senate on Feb. 12 narrowly rejected the bill, setting the federal government up for a partial shutdown.
The nearly 520,000-square-foot warehouse, previously known as the Hamburg Logistics Center, is one of 23 locations ICE plans to redevelop into a mass detention facility, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The outlet reported it could hold up to 1,500 people.
What do elected officials know about ICE’s warehouse purchases?
Elected officials contacted by Spotlight PA and NOTUS for this story said they have limited knowledge of ICE’s plans to purchase warehouses in the state, and that they are trying to get more information from the federal government.
Meuser said Trump officials did not answer all of his questions.
“A lot of the details we’re going to get to the bottom of, as far as how many people are going to be detained there, what the capacity is, how many new employees, and all the other things that, all the details that really matter to our community,” Meuser told NOTUS and Spotlight PA. “We’re just going to make sure it goes as well as possible. It’s a decision [the Department of Homeland Security] made, and we’re, you know, we just got to work with them.”
Meuser said he would have discussions with county commissioners and state representatives “to fill them in on everything” he is aware of.
Berks County’s three commissioners — Republicans Christian Leinbach and Michael Rivera, and Democrat Dante Santoni Jr. — said during a Feb. 5 meeting that they have not received confirmation from the federal government about how the warehouse will be used.
“I was not contacted by ICE,” Rivera said. “We cannot stop a sale that is a private transaction of land and property ownership.”
Rivera said residents should direct concerns to federal officials and ICE.
“Since ICE is a federal agency, they are the ones who have the say over what happens at the federal level,” Rivera said. “We are looking into some of the things at this point. I do not have any other details.”
Leinbach, who chairs the body, expressed concern about a “total lack of transparency” with the sale of the property.
“No matter what you think about ICE … you should be very concerned about the process and how this is fundamentally changing what the plan was and what was approved literally overnight, and ask the question, ‘What kind of an impact does that have, and what kind of a precedent does that set for this community?’” Leinbach said. “I’m gravely concerned about this.”
At a Feb. 11 town hall meeting, Leinbach and Rivera declined to share final opinions about what residents called the “morality” of the processing center until they learned about how the facility would operate. However, they both said they would be against it being operated privately.
Santoni broke with his colleagues and said he was fully against the facility being in Berks County. He had a brief meeting with members of the governor’s office and told Spotlight PA the state would be asking the commissioners in the coming weeks to endorse a letter of questions for the federal government regarding the warehouse’s use.
State Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, a Democrat who represents part of Berks County and chairs the Legislative Latino Caucus, said the purchase “risks provoking fear, disrupting families, and endangering the well-being of our neighbors.”
“Berks County has faced an ICE detention facility before, and after years of sustained community advocacy, that center ultimately closed. That history matters,” said Cepeda-Freytiz, whose district is 40% Hispanic. “While many questions remain about the scope and operations of this proposed facility, I will continue to use every tool available to demand transparency, protect due process, and stand with our most vulnerable neighbors.”
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) raised concerns about the warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill Counties in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Feb. 7.
“While I have been clear in my support for the enforcement of federal immigration law, this decision will do significant damage to these local tax bases, set back decades-long efforts to boost economic development, and place undue burdens on limited existing infrastructure in these communities,” Fetterman wrote.
Fetterman requested that DHS and ICE provide a briefing to his office on why the agencies decided to purchase the properties, as well as an “impact assessment” addressing infrastructure, safety, loss of property taxes, among other concerns.
Can local or state governments stop the detention center?
On Feb. 12, the Shapiro administration said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that it would not issue required state permits for the conversion of warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill into two planned immigration detention centers, including the Upper Bern warehouse, if initial reporting about the facilities is accurate. Gov. Josh Shapiro urged DHS to “reconsider” the conversion of warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill into detention centers.
“Should you choose to go forward, you would be violating the rights of Pennsylvanians, increasing utility costs, harming our economy, and making us less safe,” Shapiro said in the letter. “If you press ahead, my Administration will aggressively pursue every option to prevent these facilities from opening.”
On Feb. 6, Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a news conference that his administration is “exploring legal options to stop it.” However, he said that options are “fairly slim” because the federal government is the purchaser.
“Hopefully, the local government, who will likely have some permitting power here, hopefully they don’t approve these permits, they don’t allow the federal government to build this facility, and we’re going to be working closely with our local partners on that front to see if it can be stopped,” Shapiro said.
Berks County officials said they do not know at this point if the county has the power to stop the development of the ICE facility as there are no zoning or planning activities that would require the county’s approval.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we have no power to stop this, because I don’t know that for certain. Legal will be looking at that,” Leinbach said.
County Solicitor Christine Sadler said in the meeting that she needs to confirm the use for the facility and get more information from the township about potential zoning issues. Leinbach said Feb. 11 that the county’s planning department was providing mapping information to the local township.
What additional approvals does the facility need?
A statement from Upper Bern Township supervisors provided by Solicitor Andrew Hoffman on Thursday said the township might not have the ability to regulate the federally-owned facility. It also might not be subject to the state’s building code. Those laws might be superseded by federal preemption.
Hoffman said the township has not received any further information regarding the site from DHS.
Increasing the sewage load for the warehouse could trigger involvement from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, because sewer and water are state regulated. The state regulates according to federal environmental laws, but the township is still unsure whether or not there’s any application of the federal law to a federal facility, Hoffman said.
John Roche, the township’s engineer, said he has not received any formal requests from the federal government asking to increase sewer load for the warehouse.
“If the use changes, we’d have to look at that on an individual basis. We haven’t had any new requests yet to figure out what they’re going to use it for. And so there’s formulas and criteria that you go through and figure out, okay, this is what you’re using it for, this is how much sewage you can generate,” Roche said
The developer of the warehouse has until March 13 to respond to a punch list of items, including stabilizing a stormwater culvert and providing as-built plans, which the township has identified as incomplete under a land development agreement.
The township’s solicitor explained that officials are unsure of how much of those outstanding items can be addressed by the developer now that the property has been sold to the federal government. It’s unclear whether the federal government would have to abide by that agreement.
Upper Bern Township officials had previously said they were not aware of the purchase before it happened.
“The Township was not involved in this transfer and has not received any applications from either the prior or new owners regarding the future use of the property,” Hoffman said in a Feb. 2 statement.
Are there already ICE detention facilities in Pennsylvania?
Seven facilities in Pennsylvania detain people for ICE, according to information published by the agency.
One facility is a federal prison in Philadelphia. Another is the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, which is operated by a private contractor as part of an agreement where the local government operates as a middleman.
The other five are county jails.
How have ICE purchases unfolded in other Pennsylvania counties and in other states?
ICE also recently purchased a 1.3-million-square-foot warehouse in Schuylkill County for $119.5 million. Commissioners there have expressed opposition to the proposed detention center. It would hold up to 7,500 people, Meuser told elected officials, according to the Republican Herald.
In a recent meeting, Schuylkill County Commissioner Larry Padora said he is concerned about the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in local tax revenue, insufficient water, sewage capacity, and security. Padora noted that the combined population of Tremont Township and Tremont Borough represents only a quarter of the capacity ICE is planning for the detention center, the Herald reported.
“Tremont sewage treatment plant, we confirmed yesterday, is not big enough to handle this, and their water system does not have the capacity to handle this,” Padora said.
Susan Smith, director of planning and GIS for Schuylkill County, told Spotlight PA that the zoning ordinance does not apply to uses or structures owned and operated by a state or federal agency. Tremont Township would be responsible for the enforcement of building codes.
ICE has also purchased warehouses in Washington and Howard Counties in Maryland, where both projects have met opposition from residents and local officials.
Howard County revoked a building permit for a proposed detention facility in Elkridge. In a press conference, County Executive Calvin Ball said, “The retrofitting of private office buildings for detention use, without transparency, without public input, without clear oversight, is deeply troubling.”
Avani Kalra of NOTUS contributed reporting from Washington, D.C. Spotlight PA’s Amanda Fries and Hanna Holthaus contributed from Berks and Kate Huangpu and Sarah Anne Hughes contributed from Harrisburg.
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