CAERNARVON TWP., Pa – According to the Caernarvon Township police chief and the Berks County district attorney, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using the Abraxas juvenile detention facility run by the Department of Human Services to house immigrant children.
“The one side is where the detention center of the kids that are being detained [from] Berks County, Dauphin County. On the other side is where they’re detaining [ICE detainees.] They are separated,” said Chief John Stolz with Caernarvon Township Police.
“Yes, the federal government did enter into a contract with Abraxas,” said District Attorney John Adams. “That contract is limited to Abraxas and will house immigrant children. And that contract has been in place for a couple months.”
DA Adams says other than current cases involving people who stand accused of committing crimes in Berks County and are also not citizens, there is no additional ICE activity he is aware of locally.
Caernarvon Township’s police chief says he would have liked to have had a heads up from Abraxas about the ICE detainees.
“I heard this rumor that ICE is gonna be detaining people,” said Chief Stolz. “They apologized in the delay of not getting that information to us.”
The chief also tells 69 News that the juvenile detention facility is currently working on a provisional basis because of pending litigation involving issues at Abraxas.
“Right now, because of ongoing litigation with the Department of Human Services and Abraxas Corporation, they are limited to 25 persons to be detained from both sides,” Stolz said.
The chief says, because of issues that the facility has had in the past, he’s concerned about a strain on resources.
“I don’t believe they have the facility for a large-scale of persons there,” he added.