June 11th, 2018

The Honorable Governor Wolf,

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller,

We are writing with regard to the Berks County Residential Center (BCRC), popularly known as
the Berks County Family Detention Center. The BCRC is a prison for immigrant children and
parents located in Leesport, Pennsylvania, one of only three such prisons in the country.1 We
want to express our ardent support for issuance of an Emergency Removal Order for this center
to ensure no new families are brought to Pennsylvania for unlawful, immoral, and inhumane
imprisonment.

In the summer of 2014, the Department of Homeland Security revived a discontinued policy of
imprisoning immigrant families seeking refuge in the U.S. – including infants as young as two
weeks old.2 Children detained at BCRC have suffered documented medical neglect,
psychological trauma and persistent verbal abuse and harassment.3 Some families have been
detained under these conditions for nearly two years before being released or deported.4 In one of
the most severe cases of abuse a young mother was raped by a guard in a common area,
traumatizing a young girl who had herself been a victim of sexual assault in her home country.5
These families, held as inmates, have had and continue to have their human rights violated.

BCRC is operated by Berks County under a contract with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE). BCRC was licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
until early 2016, when the Department chose to not renew the license.6 Two years later,the
facility continues to operate as the matter has been stalled under administrative review after the
county filed an appeal.

Thanks to legal research by students at the Sheller Center for Social Justice at Temple University
it is clear that the Commonwealth– specifically its Department of Human Services – has the
authority to issue an Emergency Removal Order, thereby ensuring no new families can be
brought to Pennsylvania for immigrant family detention. In fact, Pennsylvania DHS is legally
obligated to do so when operation of a facility is likely to constitute an immediate and serious
danger to the life or health of children.7 Berks County’s operation of an unlawful facility where

1
https://grassrootsleadership.org/facts-about-family-detention
2
http://www.aila.org/advo-media/issues/enforcement/detention
3
https://theconversation.com/detained-children-risk-life-long-physical-and-mental-harm-37510
4
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Inside-Look-at-ICE-Berks-County-Residential-Center-1-Million-Boon-for-Local-
Government-437112913.html
5
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/23/immigration-detention-center-guard-sexual-assault-prison
6
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2701231-Berks-County-Residential-Center-in-Pennsylvania.html
7
http://paimmigrant.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Sheller-Ctr-Legal-Memo.pdf
ongoing human rights violations have and continue to occur makes its shut down all the more
incumbent.

The current political climate in our nation and in our state of Pennsylvania is rife with
disagreement. Despite that, everyone should agree that the incarceration of children and parents
is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, cruel and unjust. There is a growing movement of hate, racism,
and xenophobia plaguing our country right now, and that is why we look to the office of the
Governor to take a stand for justice. We urge you to instruct DHS to issue an Emergency
Removal Order for BCRC, and we stand proudly with you as supporters of the immigrant
community. The continued operation of this prison is a stain on the Commonwealth as a whole,
and we are looking to your leadership to end family detention in Pennsylvania.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,

Representative Christopher Rabb of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 200th Legislative

District

Representative Brian Sims of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 182nd Legislative District

Representative Madeleine Dean of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 153rd Legislative

District

Representative Steve McCarter of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 154th Legislative District

Representative Emilio Vasquez of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 197th Legislative District

Representative Michael Schlossberg of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 132nd Legislative

District

Representative Jeanne McNeill of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 133rd Legislative District

Representative Brian Kirkland of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 159th Legislative District

Representative Stephen Kinsey of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 201st Legislative District

Representative Donna Bullock of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 195th Legislative District

Representative Jim Roebuck of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 188th Legislative District
Representative Jake Wheatley of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 19th Legislative District

Representative Mike Sturla of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 96th Legislative District

Representative Austin Davis of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, 35th Legislative District