ICE plans to offload Berks County and Schuylkill County warehouses, report says

by Tim Lambert, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
June 18, 2026

After spending almost $207 million to purchase two vacant warehouses in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security is reported to be offloading the pair and other facilities around the country, with The New York Times reporting Thursday that seven warehouses are on the list.

The reporter who wrote the story, Hamed Aleaziz, posted on social media later Thursday that the warehouses in Tremont Township, Schuylkill County, and Upper Bern Township, Berks County, are on the list of the facilities ICE officials were looking to sell.

The Tremont site, which was previously a Big Lots distribution center, would have had a capacity of 7,500 people – among the largest such facilities in the country. The other – located 20 miles away in Upper Bern Township – would have the capacity to detain 1,500 people.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t clear up questions about its plans or confirm whether or not it will sell the seven warehouses, including the 520,00-square-foot structure in Berks Country and the 1.3-million-square-foot facility in Schuylkill County, but it did say Thursday it’s working to make use of existing facilities.

“From day one, DHS has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” the agency said in an unsigned statement to Capital-Star sister outlet the Utah News Dispatch, mirroring what it provided to the Times.

“These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense,” the statement continues. “DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

Infrastructure in both Pennsylvania communities could not support an operation of the scale ICE envisioned – and that opened the door for the state government to stall the projects in the commonwealth.

Both properties ceased to generate tax revenue since the federal government acquired them in January – weeks, locals say, after rumors began to speculate about it – as part of a nationwide buying spree of nearly two dozen possible sites for detention centers.

The planned 7,500-person ICE detention center in Tremont would have added more people to the area than live in any community in Schuylkill County, except the largest – Pottsville (pop. 13,000).

Residents criticized elected leaders for their lack of transparency, engagement and responsiveness since ICE’s plans became public. They focused on those issues and infrastructure instead of immigration policy, which they say will be divisive.

“I want to thank the people of Tremont, Upper Bern, and Schuylkill and Berks counties who came together to fight these facilities. This is a big win,” said Democrat Rachel Wallace, who is running for the 9th Congressional District seat currently held by GOP Rep. Dan Meuser. “DHS should have listened to them from the beginning. Upper Bern and Tremont never had the water, sewer, or infrastructure to support facilities of this size, and it was only a matter of time before DHS came to its senses and stopped the madness.”

Wallace had focused on the planned detention center as one of her core campaign issues. The Berks and Schuylkill County facilities would have both been located in the 9th Congressional District. The 37-year-old organized a town hall about the detention center prospectearlier this year.

“Now DHS is walking away, and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have gone down the drain,” Wallace added in a statement. “The people of Schuylkill and Berks counties deserve answers about how this happened, and who will be held accountable for this waste, fraud, and abuse of government funding.”

The community and most others where DHS acquired warehouses – or considered doing so – were less diverse and home to few immigrants, with high poverty rates relative to the nation, their home state and/or surrounding region.

In Utah, the Salt Lake City warehouse, one of the agency’s most expensive acquistions, was purchased just days after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was removed from the job. Since then, the site has been quiet, with no moves made by federal officials to move forward with the conversion.

Earlier this month, Salt Lake City and County leaders sued DHS over its plans to convert the industrial warehouse into a facility to potentially house 10,000 people. The lawsuit claims such a facility would overburden water and sewer systems, contribute to air pollution, spread diseases like measles, and tax law enforcement.

A spokesperson for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s office said Thursday they have not been informed about any change in ICE’s plans for the warehouse.

Annie Knox and Katie McKellar of the Utah News Dispatch contributed to this story. 

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Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.