Abuse claims trigger Berks center probe
Auditor: Review to ensure immigrants are treated ‘as humanely as possible‘
Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced Thursday that his office will examine the Berks County center that houses immigrant families, after accusations in recent years of sexual and human rights abuses and inadequate health care there.
“Given these past reports, I want to make sure that the children and adults who are detained are being treated appropriately and compassionately,” DePasquale said in a news release posted on the office’s website. “Children, in particular, can bear lifelong emotional scars from such experiences.”
DePasquale said his review is meant to determine if immigrant children and families at the 96-bed Berks County Residential Center are being treated “as humanely as possible.”
CASA, which organizes and litigates on behalf of Latino immigrants, applauded the decision, saying in a news release that many allegations of abuse and neglect have surfaced in recent years, including reports of children’s illnesses going untreated. The organization said its representatives met with DePasquale to underscore the seriousness of the situation.
“There is a significant body of evidence pointing to the long term mental health impacts of detaining children under any circumstances, and especially of detaining children together with adults,” Elizabeth Alex, CASA director of organizing, said in the organization’s release.
DePasquale noted that the center is one of only three facilities in the United States where migrant families are detained.
Located in Bern Township, near Leesport, the facility houses families mostly from Central America but also from Europe and the Middle East. The other two such facilities are in Texas. Families are held at the centers while federal authorities weigh claims that they would be not be safe in their home countries.
Berks County operates the Bern Township center under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Until 2016, the state Department of Human Services had licensed it for decades as a child residential facility.
“Because the center is one of only three such facilities in the United States and the only one that is government-owed, I feel an obligation to ensure that detainees are being treated correctly,” DePasquale said in the release.
Human rights watchdogs, some members of Congress and Gov. Tom Wolf have called on the federal government to shut down the center.
In 2016, Daniel W. Sharkey of West Reading, a former center employee, pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault, admitting he had a sexual relationship with a detainee, the Reading Eagle reported. He was sentenced to six to 23 months in jail.
ICE told The Morning Call last year summer that those living at the center have access to medical and mental health care 365 days a year. Adults are housed with their children in a dormitory setting with day rooms, a library, TV room, recreation rooms and a toddler play area, the agency said. Families have access to computers, and children older than 10 can move about freely. An outdoor recreation area has a playground, athletic courts and fields.
Children in detention are educated, and ICE noted that their classes are taught by state certified teachers with training in English as a second language.
DePasquale said his office will focus on ICE’s plans for the facility, as well as how long asylum seekers are being held and what concerns advocates have about detainees’ treatment. As part of the audit, the office will review DHS inspections of the facility.
A report is expected later this year.
“Given these past reports, I want to make sure that the children and adults who are detained are being treated appropriately and compassionately.” — Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale in a release