A small Pennsylvania town is fighting back against a proposal to turn an abandoned Civil War-era school into a shelter for hundreds of immigrant families, with residents and lawmakers vowing to thwart a “foreign invasion.”
News of plans to convert the former Scottish Veterans Children's School building in Franklin County into a migrant shelter emerged publicly this week after the owner of the large parcel of land recently began inquiring about its potential uses. Local officials.
Green Township Trustees said representatives from USA Upstar, the Indiana-based disaster response company that currently owns the 185-acre site, contacted them last month to inquire about whether local zoning laws would allow them to convert the campus into an evacuation shelter.
The company said the site, which until recently was a summer camp, would be used as a “shelter for families seeking refuge” in the United States and that it would be “working closely” with the federal government on the potential project.
The board quickly denied the request, saying current zoning requirements and land use regulations prohibit such uses on campus.
But local officials said USA Upstar can still appeal the commission's decision.
However, it was not immediately clear whether the company plans to challenge the ruling.
Still, the development sparked immediate outrage, with outraged locals packing a town board meeting on Tuesday to voice their opposition to efforts to shelter migrants within their community.
“What concerns us is we have no idea who these people are, they've not been vetted,” local resident Sue McPhail said during the meeting. According to WGAL:.
“We don't know where they come from. We don't know if they're gang-affiliated. We don't know if they're drug dealers or sex traffickers.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Rob Kaufman and Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republicans who represent the area, have vowed to do everything in their power to stop the potential plan from gaining momentum.
“We are united in our opposition to federal contractors detaining illegal immigrants in Franklin County,” they said in a statement. Joint Statement.
“Certainly none of this falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government, but as soon as we heard rumors about the possibility of reuse, we became involved.”
“We are committed to working with our neighbors, friends and constituents to protect Franklin County from foreign aggression coming from our southern border,” they continued.
“The use of this facility as envisaged by an outside party would bring about irreparable changes to Green Township.”
Built in 1895, the building originally served as an orphanage for the children of Pennsylvania soldiers and was later converted into a school for veterans and active-duty military personnel.
In 2009, state budget cuts led to the school being closed and sold.
The Post has contacted USA Upstar about its plans for converting the site.
