Berks Reopens as Immigrant Women’s Prison–Urge Shut Down Now

From the #ShutDownBerks Coalition (https://www.facebook.com/ShutDownBerksCoalition/):

The Biden administration & ICE resumed immigrant detention at Berks. A year into his presidency, Biden fails to close down this prison. Now ICE is currently incarcerating as many as 65 women at Berks. The Biden administration must honor its promise to close these prisons and remember that incarceration is another form of family separation.

Background

Late last week the Shut Down Berks Coalition received confirmation that ICE had resumed immigrant imprisonment at the Berks sometime in January 2022. We call on the Biden administration to immediately release these women and permanently close the Berks immigrant prison.

ICE has used the Berks family prison for over 20 years to incarcerate immigrant families, including children as young as 14 days old. After years of community resistance, the Biden administration released all people incarcerated at Berks on February 26, 2021. In September 2021, despite strong opposition from community members, ICE and the Berks County Commissioners reached an agreement to reopen and repurpose the Berks County Residential Center to detain women as young as 18 years old. Today, the facility is incarcerating as many as 65 immigrant women and girls.

Detaining women at this facility is dangerous and cruel. ICE has an established history of abuse and violence against women in its custody. Berks is the same facility where a staff member was convicted for raping a 19 year old mother in 2014.

President Biden’s stated priorities endorse an immigration system that “welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and allows people across the country—both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations—to more fully contribute to our country.” However, his actions betray this promise and perpetuate the cruelty employed by the Trump administration as a tool for deportation. Detention is unnecessary, immoral, and results in family separation and isolation.

Demand that President Biden #ShutDownBerks and release all women at Berks immediately!

Take Action Right Now!

• TWEET @POTUS
• CALL the White House 202-456-1111
• E-MAIL president@whitehouse.gov or comments@whitehouse.gov

Sample language:

“The Berks County Residential Center should no longer be utilized by ICE, whether it be to imprison families, children, women or any individual adult. The Biden administration should immediately end ICE contracts in Berks County. No one should be detained at this facility for any length of time. The Biden administration must honor its promise to close these prisons and remember that incarceration is another form of family separation.”