ICE Detention Center Realities

We need to put an end to human warehousing.

DHS/ICE purchased an unused warehouse located at 3501 Mountain Road in Upper Bern Township near I-78 and a closed distribution center in Tremont, Schuylkill County, reported Spotlight PA. ICE plans to convert the Upper Bern warehouse, originally designed to handle about 200 workers over three shifts, into a so-called 'processing' center that could detain up to 1,500 people.

On March 5, 2026, the PA Dept of Environmental Protection prohibited occupancy. PA-DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley stated, “Doubling the populations of these areas could drain drinking water sources and lead to polluted waterways from overwhelmed sewage facilities leaking raw waste into our streets and rivers. Just like anyone else, DHS needs to demonstrate its facilities comply with environmental standards.”

Who is ICE holding in these warehouses?

Recent data from the Philadelphia Inquirer revealed that nearly 60% of immigrants detained by ICE have no conviction or pending charges, yet they are still being held in these sub-humane conditions. Only a tiny minority of detainees have any criminal background, and of that small group even fewer are violent offenders.

ICE agents are rounding up immigrants using a number of questionable, unethical tactics. Collateral arrests happen when ICE enters a workplace or building looking for one, specific individual and decide to arrest multiple/all persons in the area, "just in case" they happen to be illegal immigrants. Compliance traps are set when immigrants willingly comply with their legally-mandated compliance check-ins at the courthouse. ICE agents wait outside courthouses to "catch" people as they're just trying to follow immigration laws. These are just two examples of ways in which ICE activity makes people afraid to go out in public - to work, school, or in our communities in general.

What do these detention warehouses look like?

The conditions inside these detention warehouses are unbelievably dismal. Detention warehouses often resemble industrial, converted spaces designed for rapid, high-capacity holding rather than long-term incarceration. While some facilities are structured like traditional jails with cells, many temporary holding areas are just large, open spaces, say reports.

• Overcrowded, Open Areas: often filled with dozens or even hundreds of people. Sometimes divided by fencing or mesh rather than walls.
• Sleeping arrangements: people often sleep on floors or thin mats rather than standard bunks. "Beds" is a loose term.
• Industrial setting: concrete floors, high ceilings, minimal/no windows, fluorescent lighting.
• Security Features: typically highly secured, with fluorescent lighting kept on at all times, secure, locked perimeter doors, and limited access to the outside.
• Limited Privacy: virtually no privacy, with toilets sometimes in open view of the room.
• Lack of Showers/Hygiene: little to no access to showers or a change of clothes.
• Poor Air Quality: Due to overcrowding and lack of windows, the air can be poor. Some families have reported unappetizing smells in dining areas.

It's likely even worse than what we're allowed to see. In an unannounced visit to an ICE detention facility in Arizona, three Congressmen were horrified to see the mistreatment of the human beings inside. Read more about that here.

Below are more resources for you to read about the unacceptable conditions that are par for the course in these detention centers across the country.

What happens in these detention warehouses?

Not only is the physical environment unacceptable, the abuse and mistreatment of humans within these warehouses is beyond horrific. Below are video testimonials and articles detailing traumatic and tragic realities many people are experiencing while in detention.

VIDEO TESTIMONIES

Exclusive: Former ICE worker talks about inhumane conditions at Baltimore detention center, Feb. 2, 2026, WUSA9

Inside ICE Detention: Stripped, Shackled, Starved, Nov. 17, 2025, The New York Times (10 min)

Attempted suicides, fights, pain: 911 calls reveal misery at ICE’s largest detention facility

The calls to 911 poured in from staff at Camp East Montana, the nation’s largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, in its first months of operation in El Paso, Texas.

AP NewsMorgan Lee and Ryan J. Foley and Michael Biesecker

Deaths in Detention Warn of Horrors Behind ICE’s Prison Walls

At least 32 people died in ICE jails in 2025, and four more have already died in ICE custody this year.

Truthoutbritney

Fort Bliss Passes ICE Inspection Despite Abuse and Inhumane Conditions

Detained people at largest immigration detention facility in the country report accounts of physical and sexual abuse.

American Civil Liberties UnionHaddy Gassama

What can we do?

To start, subscribe to this site to receive updates on how to voice your vision. We'll show you how to show up for your neighbors, friends, and fellow Berks County residents. Together we can make ourselves heard.

for justice, not more jails...

for compassion, not cruelty...

for the Constitution, not chaos...

for communities, not cages.