Shapiro Wins: ICE Withdraws Both Pennsylvania Warehouse Detention Plans — Berks and Schuylkill Counties

Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration confirmed July 22, 2026 that ICE has formally withdrawn permit requests for two Pennsylvania warehouse-to-detention conversions in a single Environmental Hearing Board filing: a 1,500-bed facility in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, and a larger 7,500-bed facility in a former Big Lots distribution warehouse in Tremont Township, Schuylkill County — the largest single detention site in ICE’s national $38.3 billion expansion plan, capable alone of holding more than a third of the current national ICE detainee population. Shapiro’s administration had blocked both projects since February by directing state agencies to deny the sewer and water permit upgrades required to make either site operational, using state environmental review authority rather than direct confrontation with federal supremacy claims.

This is one of the clearest documented wins in the warehouse-conversion resistance pattern the timeline tracks nationally — most jurisdictions (Surprise AZ, Williamsport MD) have achieved delays via court-ordered environmental review, not outright federal withdrawal. It closes out the Tremont/Upper Bern PA appeals fight already documented (2026-04-08–ice-appeals-pa-dep-orders-tremont-upper-bern) and demonstrates that sustained denial of state-level permits — sewer and water access, not detention policy directly — can force a full federal retreat rather than merely a pause, a template other states may follow.