WEBVTT - When an ICE Camp Comes to Town 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.080 When an ICE camp comes to town, Tremont, Pennsylvania is unprepared, 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.960 under equipped, and largely unwilling. The same is true for 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.000 many of the other places tapped for similar warehouse jails. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:17.079 So far, none of that matters by Fola Acanebee read 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:23.240 aloud by Mark Leedorf. The rumors started in January. Leaked 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.799 plans suggested Emigration and Customs Enforcement was looking to turn 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:31.400 warehouses across the U S into massive immigration detention centers. 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.120 One of the largest was planned for Tremont, Pennsylvania, a 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.760 tiny rural township in Skugul County, about one hundred miles 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:43.480 northwest to Philadelphia. Residents peppered officials with questions during county 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.960 commissioner's meetings. What information did they have? How did they 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.040 plan to respond? Larry Pdora, a Republican in the deep 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.320 red county and leader of the three person commission, wanted 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.160 to kill the rumors. At a late January meeting, he 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.960 paused the lively public comment period to give a firm 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.320 statement there was no evidence ICE was coming to town. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:07.240 He said, no deeds recorded, know anything that this facility 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.440 is even being purchased. He was referring to a former 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.119 distribution center for the bankrupt discounter Big Lots. It had 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.120 been identified in the press as a potential site. The 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.200 commissioners had checked the tax assessor's office and asked the 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.760 local Economic Development Organization. They spoke to the offices of 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.480 Governor Josh Shapiro, US Representative Dan Muser, and U S 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.200 Senators Dave McCormick and John Fetterman. None had heard anything 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.520 from ICE, as Padora was unequivocally denying the reports. However, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.280 the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had been 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.600 quietly and quickly working to buy the facility in Tremont, 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.600 a township of two hundred and eighty four that's right 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:49.520 next to a borough of roughly seventeen hundred also named Tremont. 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.280 A deed had been notarized for almost two weeks. It 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.440 would take effect the day after the hearing. The rumors 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.640 were true. Nobody had confirmation of this beforehand in any way, 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.280 shape or form, Podora said at the first County Commission 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:07.800 hearing after the deed had been filed. The agency's actions 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.880 seemed to catch Pennsylvania officials at every level on the 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.880 back foot. They say DHS bought the massive empty warehouse 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.840 without informing them, without inviting public comment, and without giving 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.320 any advance notice. The officials appeared shocked by the lack 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.320 of communication from the federal government on such a large 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.799 project and the speed at which it was moving. Flush 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.440 with tens of billions of dollars in funding and a 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.720 twenty twenty nine deadline to spend it, DHS has been 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:39.359 moving at breakneck speed to remake America's immigration detention infrastructure. 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.120 Crucial to this effort is a thirty eight point three 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.520 billion dollar plan for ICE to shrink its detention footprint 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.680 to thirty four government owned sites from more than two 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.120 hundred state, county and local jails and private prisons that 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.679 are essentially leased. The agency's rationale is that this will 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.840 make for more efficient operations and faster deportations, and also 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:03.160 increase the number of beds available. Since the beginning of 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.000 the year, DHS has spent at least one point one 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.920 billion dollars on eleven warehouses across the country. It wants 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.000 to open them by fall. Much more spending is inevitable, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.080 DHS plans to buy an additional thirteen warehouses, though the 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:21.360 agency has paused for their purchases for now. And ten 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:26.480 existing jails. Any and all warehouses will require extensive conversion. 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.400 The empty shells will have to be outfitted with toilets, showers, beds, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.680 and dining and recreation areas. A preliminary plan sparked alarm 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.840 among immigrant advocates and local jurisdictions. The living quarters appeared 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.120 so tightly packed that there was little room for adequate sanitation, recreation, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.520 or even exit in an emergency. DHS hasn't commented on 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.760 that early plan or produced a current one for public consumption. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.760 Despite a growing list of concerns from officials and community 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.240 members who recently learned they're about to play host to 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:02.000 detention facilities, DHS has released few public details of the plans. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.040 The only concrete outline of the agency's vision beyond the purchases, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.040 is a four page document three if you don't count 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.600 a page, that's just a picture, that was released by 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.440 the State of New Hampshire, which received it from DHS 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.040 after word got out that ICE was eyeing a facility 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.760 in the state. Facets of the agency's multi billion dollar 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.599 plan have come under scrutiny. According to research from commercial 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.920 real estate firm Costar, The government is paying eleven percent 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.400 to thirteen percent more than other buyers of similar facilities. 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:36.279 DHS avoided assessing the environmental impact of converting these sites 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.600 until pressured to do so. Some of the facilities sit 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:45.240 near sensitive locations, including schools, homes, or even chemical storage facilities. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.120 Many of the host locales don't appear to have the infrastructure, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:53.200 emergency services, or labor force to support what's being proposed. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.240 That includes Schougle County, in a place where roughly seventy 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.599 percent of voters picked Donald Trump in the twenty twenty 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:04.800 four eleve action, a bipartisan grassroots backlash has emerged. DHS 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.640 appears to be spending money without thinking its plans through, 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.200 says Michelle Brunet, the agency's immigration detention ombudsman under President 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.440 Joe Biden. If the goal was cost effectiveness, she says, 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.520 they wouldn't be doing this. There are also significant risks 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.000 that come with locking up this many people in converted warehouses, 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:28.640 ruinous environmental consequences, human suffering and death. They should know this, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:33.799 Brune says. DHS didn't directly respond to a detailed request 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.560 for comment from Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Instead, an agency spokesperson recycled 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.599 the statement it has given numerous outlets about the warehouse effort, 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.480 saying it's reviewing agency policies and proposals as part of 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.760 its transition efforts. The spokesperson pointed to DHS Secretary Mark 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.039 Wayne Mullen's testimony during his confirmation hearing, we want to 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.119 work with community leaders. Mullen, who replaced Christy Nome, told 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.279 Congress in March, we want to be good partners. In 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:06.360 Tremont Township, where DHS purchased the old Big Lots distribution 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.279 center for one hundred and nineteen point five million dollars, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.240 the experience has been a case study in the agency's 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:16.600 decision making and communication. DHS wants to detain as many 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.919 as eighty five hundred people in the facility and employ 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.320 two thousand to twenty five hundred workers on site. That 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.839 would make it the second largest community in the county, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.520 dwarfing the borough and township population, and a threat to 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.760 the local water and sewer system. According to local authorities. 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.680 The building is steps from the area's sole daycare, Yet 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.440 the only communication about how this will be addressed has 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.599 been through sporadic conference calls with Pedora and other local 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:46.120 officials who've tried to provide updates at County Commission meetings. 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.520 Those updates have recently trickled to a stop. The former 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.520 Big Lots distribution center sits at the top of a mountain. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.279 It's a massive, white building, set back from a parking 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:58.840 lot and lined with one hundred and twelve truck loading 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.480 docks and two drive indoors. There are no windows. It's 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.040 a single story, rectangular box with one point two million 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.280 square feet of floor space, the equivalent of roughly eight 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:15.040 Costco stores or twenty two football fields. The interior configuration 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.760 again think Costco was well suited for Big Lots to 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.280 get its mishmash of products out to its stores quickly. 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.480 In two thousand and two, a year after it opened, 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.480 a distribution industry trade publication touted the facility as state 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.680 of the art, noting it was able to ship out 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.440 two hundred and fifty thousand cases of goods a week. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.240 Big Lots began to struggle, and in twenty twenty the 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.800 company raised cash by selling the warehouse to a real 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.880 estate investment firm. Big Lots then leased back the facility. 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.400 That firm was acquired a year later by Blue Owl Capital. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.160 In early twenty twenty five, months after filing for bankruptcy, 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.200 Big Lots closed the warehouse and laid off all five 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.680 hundred and five employees. Esthetics and liveability weren't chief among 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.120 the concerns for Big Lots when it built the facility. Still, 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.119 it wasn't an easy project. The company had to clear 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.720 twenty six feet of mountaintop where the warehouse sits, carefully 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.240 coordinating the explosive blasts to avoid disturbing a series of 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.880 disused mines hundreds of feet below, and an aircraft fuel 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.000 line that divides the property. It timed construction to avoid 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.440 the brutal winter conditions that affect the mountain. Years of 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:27.240 planning and preparation, conversations with local and state officials, and 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.120 engagement with the local community all went into getting the 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.959 facility open. The federal government originally said it would need 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.720 four months to convert the building into a detention center. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.800 Pallets and racks once lined the space up to its 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:44.000 forty foot ceilings, ICE wants to install rigid walls and doors. 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:48.600 According to internal agency plans seen by BusinessWeek, Immigration detention 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.480 facilities need laundry and medical services, areas, space for food 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.199 prep and dining, and housing. Big Lots didn't need hundreds 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.840 of toilets for discounted furniture home goods, and the employees 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.400 to pass with sorting and storing them didn't need to 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.240 shower daily on site, exercise outdoors, or be fed three 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.280 square meals. In its statement to Business Week, the agency 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.359 said it evaluated the facilities to help minimize environmental impacts, 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:19.200 including potential impacts to protected species, sensitive natural resources, and 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.079 valued cultural resources. ICE expects people to be in its 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.360 mega facilities for as long as sixty days, though recent 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.600 data shows people are routinely detained for longer. Within hours 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.400 of Trump's inauguration in January twenty twenty five, DHS began 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.320 taking steps to achieve a goal of deporting one million 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.880 people a year. Immediately it became clear that reaching that 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.120 goal would require mass arrests. Despite saying it was focused 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.720 on criminals, often referred to as the worst of the 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:50.800 worst by agency officials, the government would need to sweep 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:55.120 up law abiding residents, children, and people attending their immigration hearings. 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.280 DHS still fell short the first year, but the arrests 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.280 it made did let to record levels of detention, in 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.680 part because of the time and resources it can take 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.320 to deport a single person. There are roughly sixty six 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.800 thousand people in ICE custody, down from a record seventy 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.680 three thousand in January. During the Biden administration, the highest 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.120 number of people detained by ICE at any given time 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.760 was about thirty nine thousand. To address the newly created 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.000 need for detention space, the Trump administration quickly built a 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.600 large tent camp at the Fort Bliss Army Base in 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.480 El Paso, Texas. For now, the immigration detention center at 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.120 Fort Bliss is the largest in the US, with room 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.600 for five thousand beds. It cost one point twenty six 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.040 billion dollars and has so far been a disaster. In 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.520 less than a year of operations, the camp has never 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.720 come close to its five thousand person capacity. It has 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.000 dealt with a measles outbreak and accusations from detainees of 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:55.680 inhumane conditions, and at least three incarcerated people have died recently. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.440 The federal government replaced the contractor originally tasked with overseeing 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:04.199 the site, a tiny Virginia company called Acquisition Logistics. If 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.640 filled to capacity, the four biggest proposed warehouse jails, including Tremont, 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.680 would each be among the largest detention facilities of any 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.600 kind in the US, yet DHS has historically struggled to 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.439 operate jails holding more than two thousand people. The smaller 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.680 facilities run better, says Claire Trickler McNulty, an assistant director 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.480 at ICE during the first Trump administration and under Biden. 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.600 Big facilities are hard to staff adequately, especially in rural areas. 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.400 The logistics for food and medical care are hard to manage. 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.960 A few officials have had success persuading DHS to drop 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.960 plans in their jurisdictions. New Hampshire Governor Kelly Iott got 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.360 then DHS Secretary Nome to scrap plans for a warehouse 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:49.319 in the state after a February meeting. Mississippi Senator Roger 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:53.160 Wicker had similar luck. Sellers have also pulled out over 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:58.360 community opposition. Facility owners in Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Utah 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.199 got cold feet, though in Salt Lake City the federal 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.720 government was able to purchase a different warehouse. In seven 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.880 other jurisdictions, the plans to buy sites appear to have 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:13.760 stalled still. DHS owns eleven empty warehouses. It's awarded contracts 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.560 for converting and running just two of them. In Maryland, 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.960 and Arizona. Those contracts, which together could be worth up 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.880 to one point four billion dollars, have been bogged down 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.360 by local concerns about lack of infrastructure or emergency services, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:31.040 and proximity to schools and homes. In addition to humanitarian opposition, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.920 there are also accusations of failures to communicate with local 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.959 officials and to conduct environmental reviews, in some cases, because 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.439 DHS has declared a review isn't necessary on big projects. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:47.280 The federal government typically attempts to mitigate such concerns beforehand. 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.200 Not this time. They got this insane amount of money 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.640 and Congress didn't make them put out a public plan. 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.440 Trickler McNulty says, they haven't said why this is a 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.080 good idea. We'll be right back with when an ice 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:07.440 camp comes to town. Welcome back to when an ice 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:11.560 camp comes to town. Tremont Borough's main Street, a half 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.240 mile long commercial and residential corridor, has a pizza place, bar, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:19.040 post office, and bank. There's a single three way stoplight 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.079 near the main retail attraction, a family dollar store. As 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.840 far as amenities go, there's a small plot of grass 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.520 that serves as a veterans park and memorial The borough's pool, 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.400 in dire need of repairs, has been closed since the 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.800 end of the twenty twenty two season. Residents have formed 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.200 a committee to try to get it reopened, though local 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.880 officials say it would cost two hundred dollars per resident 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.800 to keep it operating. In response to a notice on 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.320 Facebook that the pool would again not be opening in 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.520 twenty twenty four, one person said, not much left for 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:54.360 Tremont to offer that attracts taxpayers. Tremont Township, the larger 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.880 and less populous surrounding area, is more rural. It's a 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.360 smattering of homes, a local government building, a gas station 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:05.280 with a Burger king off, roading areas, and auto repair shops. 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.280 The Big Lots Warehouse was one of the county's biggest 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.800 employers when it was open. Otherwise, not many people work 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.640 in the township or the borough. The average commute time 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.560 to work for residents is nearly thirty minutes, according to 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.120 Census Bureau data. There's a range of feelings about the 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.680 proposed detention facility. Joe and Lara Viscount, retired teachers in 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.000 their fifties who are liberal members of a local Democratic club, 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.840 are opposed to the facility. On every level. They've pressured 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.040 Padora and other local officials to resist the federal government 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.000 and made themselves available to the media. Tremont Borough's mayor, 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.400 Justin Moehler, a Republican, says he's powerless to stop the 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.960 facility and his only concerns are about water and sewage. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.840 If there's no impact to those systems, he says, then 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.320 it is out of the borough's hands anyway. He one 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.760 hundred percent supports the administration's immigration agenda. By his estimation, 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.280 a lot of residents are excited about the prospect of 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.800 the facility. Joe Viscount disagrees. He attended a spring protest 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.720 where there were he says, sixty to eighty people marching 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:12.240 against the facility and five or six counter protesters. The 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.280 township and the borough have a combined population of fewer 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.080 than two thousand, roughly a quarter of whom are older 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.240 than sixty five. The facility will need a staff of 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.440 two thousand to twenty five hundred. At the very least, 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.760 the government could produce an independent economic impact study, says 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.760 Breonna del Val, who lives in Skukl County and has 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.680 helped lead some of the local opposition through an organization 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.320 called No Scook Detention. If we can actually confront the 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.760 real impacts, the financial impacts of this, it will help 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.480 us plan, she says. Many residents say they fear it 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.640 will be another idea with terrible consequences for them. Already, 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.680 the area participates in a waste recycling process that can 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.200 begin with a toilet flush in eastern Brooklyn. The waste 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.880 is treated by New York City's sewer system and turned 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.160 into a sludge made of feces, food, and paper fibers. 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.640 The biosludge, equivalent in weight over the course of a 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.840 year to the Washington Monument, is sent by trucks to 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.480 a facility in an adjacent township. It's turned into fertilizer 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.600 on site. This transformation produces a smell that hangs in 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.440 the air in town, even on cold days in the summer. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.760 Residents say it can be unbearable. People get headaches, children 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.320 can't play outside, and windows remain shut. Lane Mack Junior, 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.960 sixty two, a lifelong Burrow resident, calls the facility the 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.760 ship plant. Up the road. Residents have been living with 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.440 the smell for years. On the other side of town, 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:43.040 a second facility deals in sludge too. Sometimes material sloshes 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.280 out of transport trucks onto the street, says Joe Viscount. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.600 The smell forces him and his wife to make calculations 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.720 about their outdoor time. There's actually a third fertilizer facility 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:57.480 a bit farther away from town. Those projects were sold 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.480 as economic development opportunities, but the two nearby bio solids 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.960 facilities employ roughly twenty people combined. One of the facilities 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.600 pays a two dollars municipal fee per ton of wet 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.320 sludge it receives. According to documents filed with the Pennsylvania 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.840 Department of Environmental Protection, one facility sits outside the township, 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.960 and the other reports activities in three local townships, including Tremont. 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:26.600 The smell doesn't recognize those political boundaries. Residents haven't heard 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.280 directly from the federal government about the warehouse jail. What's 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.919 clear is the facility won't pay taxes. The Fed's purchase 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:35.960 of the site will cost the school district and the 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.800 local and county government almost one million dollars in revenue annually, 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.919 compared with what big lots and the subsequent owners paid. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:46.080 Neither the township nor the borough has a full time 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.639 police officer. The fire department is volunteer. The emergency medical 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.840 services system is already stretched thin. The closest emergency room 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.240 is a thirty minute drive in its existing facilities. ICE 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.119 relies on local sources for all these services. Regularly, in 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.159 the past five months of operations at Fort Bliss, staff 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.760 called nine to one one nearly once a day. Pedora, 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.560 the Schoukel County Commissioner's leader, is the main conduit between 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:16.280 the local community and DHS, and that line of communication 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.560 has not been robust. On the first conference call he 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.520 had with federal officials, he says, there were two dozen 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.440 people in a zoom meeting, many from the federal government 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.479 without their cameras. On These faceless federal officials didn't have 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.040 answers to many of the county's basic logistical questions. On 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.960 subsequent calls, the federal government suggested that it would hire 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.800 locally to the extent possible, and that it would consider 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.520 making an annual payment in lieu of taxes to help 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.880 offset the lost tax revenue. Pedora has sought to get 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:49.480 these assurances in writing. Those informal concessions don't address the 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.160 biggest hurdle to the proposal. The water there simply isn't 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.240 enough of it in the area to support what Ice 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.960 is proposing. Even if Tremont stopped using water altogether, there 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.240 wouldn't be enough. In twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.760 the area experienced its worst drought in decades, and the 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.680 water problems were exacerbated in twenty twenty four when the 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.560 borough used roughly sixty percent of its reserves to fight 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:15.800 a massive fire. Recently, to supplement the supply, the Regional 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.200 Water Authority has hauled water in with trucks and obtained 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.760 permission to tap into a reservoir that the regions stop 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.200 using in the nineteen nineties because of water quality concerns. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:28.959 That new source can safely give Tremont an additional seventy 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.360 thousand gallons a day. At capacity, the ICE facility would 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.920 need almost one million gallons of water a day, according 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.440 to the state Department of Environmental Protection. That's one hundred 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.920 and thirty times what big lots used. If Ice were 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.400 forced to rely on the big lots amount, it could 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.040 safely detain sixty three people as long as staff didn't 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.760 use the bathroom, wash their hands, or drink any water. 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.280 The Tremont system's maximum capacity is four hundred thousand gallons 0:19:57.320 --> 0:19:59.720 per day, but it's capped at a figure below that 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.440 multi state water regulator. On an average day in twenty 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:06.520 twenty five, the region used two hundred and eight thousand 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:11.719 gallons of water. There's no other water in Tremont. DHS 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.800 told Padora in limited conversations with him that it was 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.399 considering trucking in water to the facility. Delivering a million 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.600 gallons of water a day to a facility at the 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.240 top of a mountain strange credulity, says David Hess, who 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:28.000 headed the Pennsylvania Deep in the early two thousands. Such 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.560 a plan would require roughly one hundred and sixty six 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:34.240 trucks per day. Every day. They'd be trucking water in 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.840 around the clock. Has says. Even the largest water storage 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.200 tanks on the market would have to be refilled every 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:44.560 few days, a logistical nightmare, he says, and as water 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.399 comes in, it will need to be taken out. The 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.720 proposed detention center could produce four hundred and fifty thousand 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:55.240 to one million gallons of sewage daily. The regional water authority, 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.679 authorized to handle five hundred thousand gallons is already at 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.040 eighty percent capacity. Anything above that is at risk of 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:06.600 being discharged untreated into the nearby Swatara Creek, a tributary 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.480 of the Susquehanna River. The people in surrounding counties drink 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.400 the water at the Immigration tent camp in the Florida Everglades, 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:18.320 dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, it cost ninety two million dollars to 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.480 haul out less than a year's worth of wastewater that 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.600 was for roughly five hundred detainees. Florida is expected to 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.640 close the facility in part because of the huge costs 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.880 to run it. Implementing a strategy like that at Tremont 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.200 would double the number of trucks coming in and out 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.959 of the facility. Water and sewer isn't rocket science. It's 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.199 basic stuff. Has says the fact that they failed to 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.240 look at this basic stuff. What else are they missing? 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.200 What DHS is or isn't missing is the subject of 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.000 federal suits in at least five of the jurisdictions in 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.359 which it has bought facilities. Maryland sued the agency in 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.000 late February over a proposed fifteen hundred bed warehouse jail 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:01.320 in the state's panhandle. The law suit accused DHS of 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:05.040 violating federal law by failing to consider the environmental impact 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.960 of the project instead of conducting a traditional environmental review. 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.040 The agency acknowledged in the lawsuit it did a limited 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.840 review and found the project is not expected to result 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:20.280 in any significant adverse environmental impacts. That determination, the agency argued, 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:24.239 eliminated the need for a month's long impact study. It 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:27.119 conducted the review in one day, the same day it 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.800 completed the purchase of the property. The federal judge overseeing 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.600 the case didn't find the government's argument convincing. He halted 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.640 construction pending a full environmental review. In June, the agency 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.119 released a public comment form to kick off its environmental assessment. 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:46.960 The suit is ongoing. New Jersey followed Maryland's lead in March, 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.160 suing over a similar facility. It led with the lack 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.160 of environmental review and also accused DHS of violating federal 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:57.240 immigration law and a law that requires the federal government 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:01.280 to account for all national, regional, state, and local viewpoints 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:05.679 for development programs and projects. Days later, Michigan made a 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:10.080 similar claim. DHS filed its limited review of the Michigan site, 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:12.960 with finding similar to those from Maryland, more than a 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.640 month after purchasing the site and hours after Michigan filed suit. 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:20.240 In response, DHS has said Michigan does not have standing 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.000 to bring the lawsuit and that the agency needs detention 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.560 space in the Detroit area. The New Jersey proceedings were 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.120 paused after DHS agreed to begin assessing the environmental impact. 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.520 Arizona raised a challenge as soon as work started on 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:37.080 a warehouse site there. The state alleges that DHS didn't 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:41.119 conduct any review at all. Social Circle Georgia, a small 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:44.000 town fifty miles east of Atlanta, filed the most recent 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:47.280 suit in mid May. The agency has yet to respond. 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.679 Officials in other jurisdictions where DHS has bought warehouses have 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:55.280 attempted to slow the government by using local powers. Salt 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:58.200 Lake City officials have taken steps to limit water usage 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:01.320 by non residential facilities because of drought conditions in the 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:04.280