PA immigration detention center under scrutiny

What to look for on Smart Talk, Thursday, July 25, 2019:

When it comes to the detention of undocumented immigrants, most of the attention has been directed at the country’s southern border, where most asylum-seekers enter and many of them end up detained.

But we have our own immigration conundrum here in Pennsylvania, too. We’re home to the Berks Family Detention Center. It’s about an hour drive from Harrisburg, and it’s one of just three facilities in the country holding incarcerated families, including children. It’s the smallest and oldest of the three, and it’s the only one not in Texas.

Berks County runs the center through a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and it also has a state license that’s currently under contention in court.

On every level — county, state and federal — there is impassioned debate over whether Berks should keep running.

Appearing on Smart Talk to discuss the issues and future of the Berks Family Detention Center are Freshman Democratic Congressional Rep. Madeleine Dean, whose district is in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Reading Eagle reporter Dave Mekeel, Carnegie Mellon Psychologist Tim Verstynen, and Pennsylvania State Rep. Chris Rabb, a Democrat who represents Philadelphia County.