Detention Center in Berks County has released migrant families

By Chris Schaller
March 20, 2021

The main entrance to the Berks County Residential Center. Photo by Amy Lutz

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has announced that the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement had released all of the migrant families at the Berks County Residential Center

Around the country, there are detention centers that hold migrants captive for coming into the country illegally or overstaying a VISA.  Specifically, the Berks County Residential Center will be highlighted as the migrant families have been released.  At its highest peak, the detention center held over 40 migrant families. There were a plethora of human rights violations.  There was a lot of backlash and protests sparked across the Delaware Valley, calling for the shutdown of the facility

“I don’t think it’s ethical for Berks County to hold migrants captive while they are waiting for their court date,” Dr. Melissa Gonzalez-Contreras, Spanish professor and member of the Cabrini University Center on Immigration, said. The end goal is for the Berks County Residential center to be closed. That sentiment has been shared by Senator Casey. The way that the families were kept in the detention center was inhumane and squalid. Children in the center have suffered from shingles, COVID-19 cases have been reported and there have also been allegations of sexual assault. Many reasons why the center should be shut down. 

The Biden administration reportedly wants to change the detention centers to reception centers, ultimately clearing the status of holding migrants captive at these places. This would ultimately move migrants to residential housing instead of in a prison-like environment. The ultimate goal in the case of undocumented immigrants is for them to be able to seek asylum in the United States which would make them refugees under the legal status. 

A protest against I.C.E detention centers in Philadelphia back in 2019. Photo by Rachel Warriner

Many have brought up the fact that ICE should be disbanded and shut down. “Immigration offenses are civil offenses and you do not need a police-type agency to enforce immigration laws,” Dr. Gonzalez-Contreras said. ICE has been described as an “American Gestapo,” raiding homes and abducting migrants and putting them in detention centers. ICE. Alternatives to a detention center could be house arrest, assigned court dates or could be sent to sponsor families until a decision about their status is made. 

A group of people started the Shut Down Berks Coalition. The week of March 1 through March 5, they held a schedule to call the political offices of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Sen. Bob Casey and President Joe Biden. The coalition is demanding that the detention center should be shut down and for the ICE. officials be held accountable for the human rights abuse that these migrants have faced. “Nobody should be put into a cage, there’s no reason why families should be separated and that in itself is a violation of human rights,” Julia Smith, senior criminology and sociology major, said. The goal is to end family-wide detention across the state of Pennsylvania and eventually nationwide. 

There has been no word yet on whether or not the detention center will remain a facility that detains migrants. With the public reaction to the detention center being negative and with there being calls from state politicians for them to be shut down, there is no knowing to what the future holds for the Berks County Residential Center, in Leesport, Pennsylvania.

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Chris Schaller

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