{"id":165556,"date":"2026-04-14T16:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/165556\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:48:09","slug":"ice-appeals-pa-orders-blocking-water-and-sewer-to-planned-detention-centers-berks-regional-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/165556\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE appeals Pa. orders blocking water and sewer to planned detention centers | Berks Regional News"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was produced by\u00a0the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA<\/a>, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for Good Day, Berks, a daily dose of essential local stories at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/newsletters\/gooddayberks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPPER BERN \u2014 The federal government is reviewing contracts to convert warehouses into ICE facilities such as the one purchased in Berks County, and the immigration agency is challenging Pennsylvania state orders preventing them from moving forward.<\/p>\n

But local officials told residents last week they had “nothing new” to share about the planned local facility. During Upper Bern Township\u2019s Board of Supervisors meeting this week, Solicitor Andrew Hoffman said there\u2019s been \u201cno new development since last month\u201d and \u201cthere\u2019s nothing new we\u2019ve received or heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though not listed on the meeting\u2019s agenda, Hoffman said U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) was slated to provide an update to residents on the status of the warehouse, but had a scheduling conflict. Requests for comment to Meuser\u2019s office about what he planned to share at the meeting were not returned.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security\u2019s plans to turn a warehouse at 3501 Mountain Road into a 1,500-person processing center have hit two roadblocks in recent weeks. It\u2019s one of two warehouses in Pennsylvania, as well as several others across the country, that DHS purchased for more than $1 billion in recent months\u00a0as part of its \u201cdetention reengineering initiative.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

At the federal level, DHS has paused the purchase of new warehouses and begun scrutinizing those already purchased under former Secretary Kristi Noem. The change came shortly after Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as the new secretary of the agency.<\/p>\n

And early last month,\u00a0the state Department of Environmental Protection issued several administrative orders<\/a>, effectively blocking ICE from accessing water and sewer at both the Upper Bern and Tremont warehouses, as well as occupying them, until DHS demonstrates compliance with state environmental regulations.<\/p>\n

ICE this week filed an appeal with the state Environmental Hearing Board, challenging those orders. In its appeal filed on April 8, ICE asked the board to allow it to make \u201creasonable use of the water and wastewater systems\u201d at the levels that were previously approved for the prior owners of the warehouses.<\/p>\n

The agency argued that the orders DEP issued \u201care unreasonable and an abuse of discretion without legal authority,\u201d and that the state agency failed to provide sufficient proof of why it is necessary to deny ICE use of the facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile DEP has cited publicly available information as a basis for presuming ICE\u2019s intentions, it has failed to show in any way that ICE does not, in fact, intend to obtain all necessary permits before retrofitting the properties for their intended use,\u201d ICE\u2019s attorney Daniel Wilmoth wrote.<\/p>\n

Wilmoth also suggested that DEP\u2019s actions are partly motivated by \u201cantipathy against ICE,\u201d and cited examples of public statements made by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro vowing to \u201cuse every tool\u201d at his disposal to stop ICE\u2019s plans for the facilities.<\/p>\n

In addition, Wilmoth argued the orders interfere with DHS\u2019 constitutional authorities, arguing \u201cthe doctrine of intergovernmental immunity prohibits states and localities from interfering with or regulating federal operations or contractors.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE said plans to develop warehouses in Pennsylvania and across the country \u201care ongoing and not yet finalized\u201d and that \u201cICE intends to ensure that all applicable laws and regulations are adhered to and that the operation of any facilities, whether for detention or other uses, is done with careful regard for law, regulation, and public safety in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

An environmental attorney with knowledge of Environmental Hearing Board procedures \u2014 who asked not to be named because she is not authorized to speak on the matter\u2014 said the appeal is unlikely to move very quickly. It depends on the urgency of the parties, their timelines, and how quickly they want the process to move. Other parties, like the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority, as well as the two townships involved, also have a right to intervene during the proceedings.<\/p>\n

ICE said in its\u00a0detention reengineering initiative memo<\/a>\u00a0that it plans to \u201cactivate all facilities by November 30, 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next steps for the appeal process include a conversation with both parties to discuss whether the case can be settled, and the discovery phase, during which ICE and DEP would exchange information about the case. If the board rules in favor of DEP\u2019s orders, ICE could appeal again, and the case would go to Commonwealth Court. Commonwealth Court decisions can later be appealed to the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Neither ICE nor DEP immediately responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Local and state officials have repeatedly expressed concerns that the converted warehouses\u00a0could overload resources<\/a>, including the water and sewer systems. In a March 24 letter to ICE, Robert DiGilarmo, DEP\u2019s southcentral regional director, laid out the agency\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

He said the public water system at the property has never been approved to operate, and that discrepancies between the construction of the system and the construction permit must be resolved and an operating permit obtained before ICE could draw water.<\/p>\n

Transwestern Development Company, the property\u2019s previous owner,\u00a0has received nine extensions from the township to address outstanding problems<\/a>\u00a0associated with the project\u2019s land development agreement.<\/p>\n

Sewage flows can also not be allowed without further information from ICE about how they plan to use the property, DiGilarmo said, citing the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, which \u201crequires comprehensive sewage planning implemented by local governing bodies and approved by DEP for the purposes of orderly management of sewage that is protective of human health and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026\u00a0If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by\u00a0foundations and readers like you<\/a>\u00a0who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was produced by\u00a0the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. Sign up for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129,1478],"class_list":["post-165556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-spotlight-pa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}