Dear Prison Board, We have questions.
Dear Prison Board,
We have questions.
You, the members of the Berks County Prison Board, are responsible for the safe-keeping, discipline, and employment of prisoners, and the government and management of the Berks County Jail, where upwards of 700 people are held every day at a cost to taxpayers of more than $52 million annually. As you well know, more than half of all bookings into the jail are for misdemeanors or local ordinance violations, and three quarters of bookings are pre-trial, meaning people who are still presumed innocent.
We're grateful you don't have a formal 287(g) agreement with ICE, but you still voluntarily notify them and detain people for 48 additional hours beyond their normal release time--that is not counting weekends and holidays, so you could be holding someone up to 72 hours based on a detainer request that doesn't state a probable cause.
You have chosen to make detention especially heinous for immigrants by handing them over to ICE, an agency now known for its brutal detention practices and disregard for due process.
We have questions.
Why?
Why do you do this? Perhaps it started years ago when ICE seemed like an government agency just doing its job. Every nation wants to control its borders, and in the wake of 9/11, ICE might have looked like a good idea. It's often said that in Berks we do things a certain way because we've always done them that way. So is that why you keep doing this, two decades later?
Here's the thing, neighbors. Under the Trump regime, ICE is a different animal. In 2025, thirty-one (31) people died in ICE custody, including one of 300 veterans who served our country. More will die as poorly prepared agents are rushed through training to meet mass deportation quotas of 3,000 ICE arrests per day, 1 million annually.
Is it okay because it's more 'orderly'? Under that recent pressure, ICE has arranged workplace raids that detained US citizens and off-duty law enforcement who look Latino. They have methodically targeted DACA recipients (Dreamers), TPS holders, and work-authorized migrants. They have scheduled to arrest children on their way to school. Just because a process is organized doesn't make it justified. Do you really want to partner with an agency that routinely defies court orders and illegally detained 4,400 people and counting?
Do you think "those people" are all criminals? Seventy-three percent (73%) of people held in ICE detention have never been convicted of any crime whatsoever. They are being criminalized by DHS randomly changing the rules of their status, increasing their fees, voiding their current documents, and picking them up as 'collateral arrests' simply by virtue of being noncitizens. Do you really want to willingly support an agency that needlessly separates and terrorizes families, subjecting children to trauma that will last a lifetime?
We don't want to live in a place that treats our neighbors like that. We want to live in peace, just like you, free from fear of state-sanctioned violence. We understand there are plenty of things outside your control, but cooperating with ICE is not one of them. You have the option!
- Do not contact ICE about anyone you have in custody
- Do not respond to ICE detainers and don't hold anyone past their release date and time
For the sake of your constituents, the people of Berks and Reading -- and to avoid legal consequences, for collaborators will be held accountable some day -- we are asking you to end your relationship with ICE and cease all voluntary cooperation with them. We don’t want to live in a country where the government can arrest, detain, and deport anyone they have designated as threat to their political agenda.
ICE has gone too far. It's time to cut the ties.
Sincerely,
Your Neighbors
Readers, see What You Can Do on our website NoBerksDetention.org
Here are three opportunities to speak your mind:
Prison Board Meeting
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 9:00am promptly. Berks County Services Bldg, 13th Floor, 633 Court Street, Reading
Berks County Commissioners Town Hall
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM at the Exeter Community Library, 4569 Prestwick Dr, Reading, PA 19606. Doors open at 6:00pm.
Berks County Commissioners Business Meeting
Thursday, April 9, 2026, 10:00am.
13th Floor Commissioners' Boardroom, Berks Services Center, 633 Court Street, Online via Teams and BCTV. Bookmark https://www.berkspa.gov/departments/commissioners/meetings for the agenda.
