Thread: County ends agreement to house immigration detainees

County ends agreement to house immigration detainees

Author: 69 News, news@wfmz.com
Published On: Dec 06 2011 01:56:38 PM EST Updated On: Dec 06 2011 08:27:06 PM EST

BERN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -
The Berks County commissioners have sent a letter to the Dept. of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) letting them know that the county is ending its agreement to house federal immigration detainees at its Bern Township facility. The letter stated that the agreement would end in February 2012, but ICE officials requested it be extended until March 31, 2012, and commissioners agreed to that request.

Detainees were housed in the former Berks Heim building on County Welfare Road.

The closing of the facility will mean 60-70 county employees will lose their jobs. Republican commissioner Christian Leinbach said this was a hard decision to tell employees, especially around the holidays, but if they would have waited until after the holidays it would have only meant the employees would have had less time to deal with the news.

The commissioners said the former Berks Heim building is slated for demolition in the future because the cost to rehab it would be too much to make it worthwhile for the county. Because of this, the county had negotiating with ICE to move the facility to the former Heim Annex building, also in Bern Township.

Before those negotiations were finalized, the commissioners said ICE told the county that it was looking into moving the facility somewhere in the southwest part of the country. Based on that, the county decided to end its agreement with ICE at the end of the current lease.

Also housed in the building are the coroner's office and the Department of Veteran's Affairs. These county offices will be relocated before the building is demolished. Republican commissioner Mark Scott said the new locations for those offices will be announced soon.

Commissioners said the county made about $300,000 each year from the ICE agreement.

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Originally Published: 12/7/2011

Move will cost Berks jobs, money

Mary Young
Reading Eagle

Up to 60 employees will lose their jobs, and Berks County will lose $300,000 annually because the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving its family shelter program to the southwestern United States.

In a Nov. 30 letter to the county commissioners, ICE officials stated that they would end their contract immediately or as soon as a new service provider in the Southwest is under contract.

So the commissioners decided to notify ICE that they are ending the contract as of Feb. 15.

ICE officials could not be reached for comment.

For more than 10 years, the family shelter in the old Berks Heim nursing home on County Welfare Road in Bern Township has been housing families who are in the country illegally.

The county had been negotiating with ICE to move the program to the former Berks Heim Annex on Berks Road in Bern. The former annex is being used by the prison as a community re-entry center.

Commissioners Christian Y. Leinbach, Mark C. Scott and Kevin S. Barnhardt decided to demolish the old nursing home after learning it needs millions of dollars in repairs.

Leinbach said the greatest impact will be on county employees.

"This was not an easy decision," he said. "We thought we were close to an agreement. At the 11th hour, ICE announced to us that they're putting out a request for proposals to put the facility in the southwestern United States."

Scott said ICE's decision makes sense because most of the people in the country illegally are picked up in the Southwest.

"The employees are the unfortunate recipients of the bad news," he said.

Affected employees will be able to bid on other jobs in the county if openings are available.

ICE had been reimbursing the county for all program costs plus $300,000 in rent for space used by regional administrative staff, so the only loss to the county budget will be the rent.

Barnhardt did not attend the meeting.

Contact Mary Young: 610-478-6292 or myoung@readingeagle.com.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=350480