In the small town of Tremont, Pennsylvania, home to just 2,000 residents, there is growing discontent over the Trump administration’s decision to establish a large Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. The proposed facility, intended to house 7,500 migrants, has sparked concerns among the local populace.
Tremont, once bustling with activity from its coal mining industry, has faced economic decline following the industry’s downturn. The community now grapples with limited resources, which has prompted fears about the impact of the proposed detention center.
Despite the town’s lack of an independent police force, a hospital, and having only one grocery store, the Trump administration selected Tremont as the site for this massive ICE facility. Residents worry about how their already overstretched resources will cope with such an influx of people.
The community’s struggles are evident, with its water supply heavily reliant on truck deliveries to prevent shortages, as reported by the New York Times. These concerns are exacerbated by the lack of communication from authorities, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased a vacant warehouse on the town’s main street for the center in January, reportedly without public notification.
The community says their town is already struggling under the weight of its population, which relies on trucks to deliver water to keep its strained supply from running dry, reports the New York Times.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bought a vacant warehouse near Tremont’s main street in January, a move that locals say came without any kind of public notice.
The detention center is slated to open within the year, leaving many wondering if their town will be able to handle an expected migrant population plus the center’s workforce.
Many in the town are ardent Trump supporters, but Tremont hardware store owner Tom Pribilla told the Times: ‘We don’t need that. The community, the area, is not going to be able to absorb the costs.’
Residents in the deep-red small Pennsylvania town of Tremont say they are outraged by the Trump administration’s plans to open a huge ICE detention center in their community, which would hold over four times its current population
Locals in Tremont say their town struggles to provide for its small population as it is and have launched protests in their small town (pictured) over fears for the impact the proposed 7,500-migrant center would have
Residents overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the last election, with the president securing over 70 percent support across Schuylkill County.
The Trump administration purchased the warehouse in Tremont as part of a nationwide effort to bolster its immigration enforcement.
The center was one of around a dozen purchased by DHS with another 1,500-person center also planned in Berks County around 30 minutes away.
Last month, residents held a small protest against the opening of the immigration center, holding signs reading: ‘ICE out of Tremont!’
The potential fallout highlights the vulnerabilities in the president’s base ahead of the crucial midterm elections in November, when Republicans risk losing control of both chambers of Congress.
Forcing small towns such as Tremont to handle the weight of new detention centers could be compounded by a string of controversies surrounding ICE, including the fatal shootings of two American citizens by immigration agents earlier this year.
The borough’s mayor and assistant fire chief, Justin Moeller, told the Times that he estimates over 60 percent of Tremont were against the ICE detention center.
The Department of Homeland Security bought a vacant warehouse near Tremont’s main street in January, a move that locals say came without any kind of public notice
The borough’s mayor and assistant fire chief, Justin Moeller, estimates over 60 percent of Tremont is against the ICE detention center
Last month, residents held a small protest against the opening of the immigration center, holding signs reading: ‘ICE out of Tremont’
Tremont’s former mayor, Roger Adams, added that many residents were frustrated by the way that DHS allegedly bought the warehouse for the facility without any public consultation.
‘Don’t just throw it in our backyard and say, “This is where it is, now you got to deal with it,”‘ Adams, who is now on the borough council, said. ‘That’s not the way I do business.’
Local resident Lisa Von Ahn also shared a fiery rebuke of the plans at a Schuylkill County Commissioners hearing this week, branding them an ‘abomination.’
‘Even people who don’t care about the indiscriminate roundups and harsh conditions of existing immigration prisons agree that this so-called plan is costly and downright insane,’ she said in her statement, which she then shared to social media.
‘It’s not something that anyone can make even tolerable.’
At another meeting last month, hundreds of locals reportedly attended a town hall to voice their opposition.
Beyond raising concerns over the detention center itself, residents said they fear the opening of the warehouse could worsen Tremont’s issues with poor air quality.
Residents overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the last election, with the president securing over 70 percent support across Schuylkill County
Local resident Lisa Von Ahn also shared a fiery rebuke of the plans at a Schuylkill County Commissioners hearing this week, which she branded an ‘abomination’
They say after the coal mining industry shut down, landfills across the region rapidly sprang up, filling the air with horrible odors and destroying the local ecology.
‘We actually have experience with trucks driving down our streets with human sewage, and it’s spilling out of the truck,’ Joe Wiscount, a Tremont resident who helped organize the town hall, said.
He said he was concerned the detention center could cause a huge increase in human waste, burdening the area’s already struggling resources.
‘We don’t want more of it dumped on us,’ he said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to DHS for comment.
