{"id":256550,"date":"2026-07-31T18:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256550\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:47:08","slug":"report-dhs-secretary-mullin-calls-relationship-with-shapiro-real-good-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256550\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: DHS Secretary Mullin calls relationship with Shapiro \u2018real good\u2019 | Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Center Square) \u2013 One week after Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed that two proposed ICE detention centers<\/a> would not be built in Pennsylvania, a report points to the rapport he has with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Politico<\/a> reported that Mullin said he has a \u201creal good relationship\u201d with Shapiro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about everything, really,\u201d Mullin told the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro, according to Politico, said Mullin was \u201cresponsive\u201d as he lobbied against DHS’s proposal to convert two warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties into ICE detention centers. Shapiro said the two \u201cworked together constructively\u201d and \u201cdiscreetly\u201d during this process.<\/p>\n

Under the direction of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the agency had purchased both facilities<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the proposal<\/a> from the agency would have converted the facilities in Tremont Township and Upper Bern Township into 7,500 and 1,500-bed detention centers, respectively.<\/p>\n

Shapiro and Fetterman both expressed their opposition to the plan from the beginning, as the governor met with local officials in February<\/a> and said that he would \u201cdo everything in his legal and regulatory power\u201d to keep the facilities out of the commonwealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have put the federal government on notice that it is going to be very hard, if not possible, for them to go ahead and build these detention centers in Pennsylvania,\u201d Shapiro said during an interview on WURD<\/a> in late April. \u201cThey need permits and other approvals from my administration, and we made very clear where we stand on that. I do not want these detention centers in Pennsylvania, and I will not allow this cruelty to take root here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, DHS withdrew its appeal of the governor\u2019s administration orders<\/a> that forbid the federal agency from using the water or sewer infrastructure needed to convert those warehouses into immigration detention centers.<\/p>\n

On July 13, \u00a0the agency provided written confirmation<\/a> to Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, that ICE \u201cwill not be using [either] Property as a detention center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Shapiro administration added that DEP will \u201ccontinue closely monitoring these facilities to ensure DHS follows through on its stated intention.\u201d<\/p>\n

“From the beginning, I\u2019ve been clear that these warehouses should not be used as ICE detention centers because they are not suitable for people and converting them to detention centers would have posed serious risks to the health, safety, and infrastructure of the surrounding communities,” Shapiro said<\/a> on July 22. “My Administration stood with local leaders and residents, enforced Pennsylvania law, and worked across agencies to protect people from being held in these warehouses and to protect the surrounding communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro, according to Politico, \u201cmade inroads\u201d with Mullin through his existing relationship with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s second term, Shapiro has sued the Trump administration more than two dozen times to challenge the loss of federal funding, rollbacks of environmental protections, and more, according to Spotlight PA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last week, Shapiro joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration accusing them of a \u201ccampaign of coercion,\u201d WESA<\/a> reports, that threatens homeland security grant money for states that don\u2019t change their election laws. Mullin is named in that lawsuit.<\/p>\n

While Shapiro has challenged the Trump administration over a variety of matters, he\u2019s also facing pressure on his administration\u2019s cooperation with ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, immigration advocates held a press conference calling on the state to end collaboration with the agency. The Shapiro administration told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star<\/a> that it is reviewing how ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies can access state systems, while adding that Pennsylvania State Police officers are not permitted to detain individuals due to their immigration status.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013 One week after Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed that two proposed ICE detention centers would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[741,856,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-256550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-immigration","tag-national","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256550","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=256550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}