Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski is urging industrial property owners not to sell or lease to immigration enforcement officials.
In a letter released Tuesday, Zrinski called on local leaders to “affirm our community’s shared values of dignity, justice, and inclusion” by rejecting participation in activities that enable the expansion of immigration detention facilities. The letter said that economic development should “strengthen lives rather than diminish them.”
Last week, Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel wrote a similar letter that was endorsed by a number of elected officials in the county.
The actions from Lehigh Valley leaders come after the sale of warehouse properties to federal immigration officials in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, and Tremont Township, Schuylkill County.
Officials there are questioning whether the locations are set up with enough water and sewer access to handle a large number of detainees, and have highlighted the loss of tax income municipalities and school districts will incur when these properties move into federal ownership.
Zrinski said Northampton County has both “the power and the responsibility to prevent harm when it is within our reach to do so.”
The letter said that supporting or facilitating immigration detention operations undermines Northampton County’s commitment to human rights, social justice and responsible development.
“Our region’s story has always been one of neighborliness and courage — of choosing the harder right over the easier wrong,” Zrinski wrote. “In refusing participation in the detention industry, we affirm that Northampton County’s growth will never come at the expense of human dignity.
“Furthermore, I refuse to pretend that the quiet acquisition of warehouse or industrial space in Northampton County is a neutral act,” she said. “It is likely only the beginning of something far more troubling. These facilities could enable ICE and its partners to conduct operations that bring fear and intimidation into the heart of our neighborhoods, changing the character of the place we call home.”
The full statement can be found on Zrinski’s Substack page.