Stand By Me - Junto a mí

This heart-wrenching letter to Gov. Shapiro was sent from the wife of a Berks County resident who lives mere miles from the proposed ICE warehouse. The trauma of needless ICE detention and the pain of family separation is evident. (edited to protect identities)

February 25, 2026

Dear Governor Shapiro,

My name is Maria. My husband has been subject to prolonged detention– over eight months–at the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center and transferred by ICE through multiple states as part of a process that, instead of moving forward, has become longer, more confusing, and more painful. Governor, I am writing to you with my heart in my hands, asking you to intervene and advocate for his release while his legal case continues, especially since he was granted a habeas corpus petition. My husband is a loving father, a dedicated husband, a hard worker, and a man of faith. He is the pillar of our home. He poses no danger to the community; rather, he has been a respected community member of Reading and Bern Township for decades.

He came to the United States in 1993, when he was only 22 years old, searching for something simple and deeply human: a better future for his family.

At that time, Ecuador was going through a severe crisis. Between 1993 and 1994, the country experienced a deep economic recession: banks collapsed, thousands lost their jobs, and there were no opportunities to move forward. Like many young people of his generation, he made the difficult decision to leave his home in order to survive.

In 2005, already living in Reading, he and I began building what became our life: We dreamed of buying a house. We dreamed of having our children study in good schools. With honest work and sacrifice, we achieved those goals. He has been a tireless, dedicated, and responsible worker. Over the years he has worked as: a driver, construction laborer, plumber, roofer and house cleaner. 

Between 2010 and 2015 we owned our own business, providing stable employment to others. We have always paid our taxes and fulfilled our responsibilities.

The community that knows him describes him as a respectful, hardworking, and trustworthy man. At church, he participated in the prayer group and has always been willing to help anyone in need.

In 2021 we moved to our dream home in Bern Township, and embraced a yearned homestead-like lifestyle and over the years among other things we started to raise chickens for our family’s use but predators began attacking them, so he wanted to get a firearm to scare those animals away. A misunderstanding occurred when he attempted to purchase a firearm without fully understanding the English language and the application process. An employee filled out the application for him as if he were a US citizen but he answered the questions as if he was a Berks County resident. He never obtained the firearm, instead he was sent to court and that is when he was detained.  He does not have active charges; ICE only continues to move dates around without any formal accusation.

He and I have been married since 1991. We have four children, three of them U.S. citizens. Our youngest, who is 13 years old, depends emotionally on his father. Since his detention, my children and I have lived through months of deep anguish: We went entire days without knowing anything about him. Our family cries silently everyday because of his absence. 

What hurts us most is not the financial strain, but the silence and emptiness left by his absence—no voice to comfort us, no embrace to reassure us, no presence to hold our family together. I try to stay strong so he does not see me suffering, but he feels our pain from afar.

My dear husband has reported difficult conditions such as a lack of access to medical care or quality, nutritional meals; unsafe conditions such as ceiling insulation falling apart; and little to no contact with family and the outside world, limited to 30 minutes of video call on tablets that are commonly fought over. I know his experiences are not unique as he is witness to how overcrowded the detention center is. Even so, in prolonged unjustified dentition, he maintains a strength of will that sustains all of us.

In these months, my husband has been transferred repeatedly — from Moshannon Valley to Louisiana to Texas to Massachusetts back to Pennsylvania. These constant transfers appear to be a tactic to delay his case, which to this day has not moved forward and is not even being reviewed clearly.

Governor: My family and I beg you to intercede for his release and the other detainees in Moshannon.

He is not a danger to the community. He is a father, a husband, a worker, a man of faith. He is the pillar of our home.

His prolonged detention, with no progress, is destroying our family and deeply affecting our children. We want him back home with us in Bern Township. With the utmost respect, I implore you to advocate not only for him but for every individual detained in Moshannon, so that their cases may be handled with true justice and humanity, and to allow all of them to return with their loved ones. 

Thank you for your leadership and compassion.

Sincerely, Maria M.

#shutdownmoshannon

While we fight to stop the warehouses in Upper Bern and Tremont from opening, there are ongoing fights to end the Clearfield County contract with Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest ICE detention center in the northeast run by the GEO Group. We also want to shut down the Abraxas Academy Shelter and Detention Program in Morgantown, which is detaining and mistreating children.

Learn more and act