PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Department of Homeland Security has acquired a warehouse in Berks County as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expanding its detention capabilities.
At 3501 Mountain Road in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, stands a more than 500,000-square-foot warehouse that deed records show DHS and ICE bought for $87.4 million.
Bloomberg reported the agency plans to use nearly two dozen warehouses for immigration detention, and according to Spotlight PA, this facility is one of them.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $45 billion specifically for ICE to expand immigration detention when signed into law last July. Federal data show that as of mid-January, more than 75,000 immigrants were being detained by ICE, up from 40,000 when President Donald Trump took office a year ago.
An ICE spokesperson declined to answer any questions about the Berks County warehouse but mentioned the Big Beautiful Bill funding is meant for expanding detention space.
“ICE is targeting vicious criminals including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and more,” a statement from ICE read. “Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”
The Upper Bern Township solicitor said that the township was not involved in the transaction and learned about it on Monday. They said they haven’t received any applications from the current or previous owner pertaining to future use of the warehouse.
The deed record lists a Delaware-registered LLC as the previous owner. The representative who signed the deed did so in front of an LA-based notary public.