Pennsylvania officials said women and children being held at a family immigration detention center in Berks County should be allowed to come and go, according to a letter from a state official to immigration lawyers. Those lawyers, who represent the mothers and children, say the facility needs to be shut down.
A group of immigration attorneys and advocates representing the detainees held at the residential center called on Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Kathleen Kane to close the Berks County Residential Center, which the lawyers said was unlawfully imprisoning children.
Responding on behalf of the governor, Deputy Secretary of Administration Jay Bausch wrote in an April 20 letter that, according to a state inspection, the facility was not being used as a secure facility and that it was therefore in compliance with its license.
“Our regulators confirmed that BCRC is not operating as a secure care facility and has no locks preventing resident children or their families from gaining egress from the building,” Baush wrote.
Bryan Johnson, a New York attorney who has represented several detainees, said the letter was evidence that the facility was operating in violation of Pennsylvania law because, he said, the women actually do not have the ability to leave.
“The license has to be revoked immediately,” Johnson said. “They have to close it down and rescind all state involvement with the facility.”
Officials with the Pennsylvania governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions.
Carol Anne Donohoe, a lawyer who represents several women at the center, said detainees are not free to leave. She said she must pass through two locked doors before meeting with her clients. On Thursday, attorney Matthew Archambeault asked whether he could take one of his client out for lunch and ice cream. He was told by a Berks County official that detainees were not allowed off-site, according to the lawyers.
It’s unclear whether detainees are locked in their rooms or whether they could technically leave through a common area. But Donohoe said the detainees are always under supervision.
“Someone is not being truthful,” Donohoe said. “Either the facility is telling them when they inspected the facility, ‘sure, they can go out when they want to’ or the state is being willfully blind.”
Johnson said Pennsylvania law is clear in that only children who have been declared delinquent or are awaiting delinquency adjudication may be detained.
The Berks County Residential Center is one of three facilities across the country used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to hold mothers and children who have been detained for alleged immigration violations. The government has recently increased its capacity to house mothers and children as it seeks to deter additional illegal immigration.