1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I write to urge immediate action to stop DHS and ICE’s plan to convert warehouses into large-scale immigration detention facilities. ICE already detains over 70,000 people and aims to expand to 100,000; DHS has scouted or purchased roughly 23 warehouses nationwide, each designed to hold between 1,500 and 10,000 people. Congress has funded this expansion with more than $170 billion for DHS, including $45 billion earmarked for detention growth. Warehouses are industrial spaces built for storage, not human habitation. They lack adequate water, sewer, ventilation, heating and cooling, and life‑safety systems. Many conversions are being purchased or fast‑tracked in ways that bypass local land‑use decisions and community input. These sites frequently sit in working‑class neighborhoods and communities of color already burdened by industrial pollution and infrastructure strain. The harms extend beyond those detained. Large detention facilities increase surveillance and enforcement in surrounding neighborhoods, strain roads, water systems, and emergency services, and lock localities into long‑term detention infrastructure they did not choose and cannot easily reverse. ICE’s detention system has a documented record of neglect and abuse: in 2025, 32 people died in ICE custody—the deadliest year in over two decades—from seizures, heart failure, stroke, and respiratory failure, with families reporting repeated denials or delays of medical care. Remote industrial siting makes accountability even harder. I urge you to support the following demands and take all available actions to implement them locally and federally: 1 Cancel the warehouse detention plan andstop every conversion immediately;prohibit detention use at these sites. 2 Reject all public funding, permits, and localservices that would enable detentionexpansion; redirect public resources tocommunity needs and services. 3 Require full transparency and genuinecommunity consent before any federaldetention action proceeds; ensure fulldisclosure of plans and contracts and strictcompliance with environmental review andpublic‑process laws, including the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act. Please state what steps you will take to prevent warehouse conversions and oppose federal efforts to expand mass detention capacity.