Commissioners pass resolution opposing warehouses as ICE detention centers

John Miller, an organizer with One Circle Community Coalition, shows a variance request while speaking about plans to oppose converting a warehouse into an ICE detention facility Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, at a community hall in Social Circle, Ga. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On February 18, the Bucks County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution asserting its opposition to the use of any warehouses in Bucks County as federal immigration detention centers.

Adopted by unanimous vote during the Commissioners’ regular public meeting, the resolution reaffirms the County’s longstanding cooperation with federal law enforcement – including on immigration matters – while making note of recent reports detailing poor conditions of confinement and alleged mistreatment of detainees held in immigrant detention facilities.

“While there’s no doubt some legal or zoning reasons why this is not a good idea, we have a moral imperative to oppose the treatment of people that we’re seeing play out around the country,” said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “We see what’s happening in the streets, and we read fragments of what’s happening behind closed doors. Today’s resolution is this Board making clear that we will not be tolerating that activity here.”

The resolution comes as United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved to purchase or lease industrial warehouses across the country, including warehouses in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to use as detention facilities.

“Bucks County is not a county that needs or wants a detention facility,” said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “I want it to be perfectly clear – whether it’s right now, or a month, a year from now – we do not want, and the Commissioners are opposed to, a detention facility for ICE here in Bucks County.”

The resolution echoes concerns raised earlier this month by Gov. Josh Shapiro in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, and warns of hazards that mass detention facilities built in areas not meant for human occupation would pose to both public health and public safety.

“I agree, obviously, with Commissioner DiGirolamo that this county is no place for these kinds of facilities, but I’ll expand that – this country is no place for these kinds of facilities,” said Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie, drawing comparisons to the internment of Japanese-Americans and some Italian-born residents during World War II. “At some point we have to think back to who we are as a country and stand up for what’s right. This is doing that.”