Amid opposition, Clearfield County commissioners approve ICE contract extension

The Clearfield County commissioners voted Tuesday to extend a contract to operate the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after hearing strong public pushback.

Speakers called on the board to reject the six-month extension, citing three deaths and complaints about physical and psychological abuse, unfit food, lack of access to adequate health care, and retaliation for protesting the conditions.

The Moshannon Valley Processing Center, with beds for about 1,800 people, is the largest ICE detention center on the east coast. The county serves as a pass-through for about $5 million a month in federal money that ICE pays private prison operator The GEO Group to run the center. The county receives $200,000 a year.

“Those gathered here today represent community members who refuse to stand by,” said Clearfield County resident Sam Mosier, the first of nine speakers. “We stand against these practices, including the use of the Moshannon facility and the inhuman treatment of individuals who are seeking nothing more than a better life for themselves and their families.”

Mosier added the county’s continued involvement would leave a stain on its legacy. 

“When history looks back on these times, … this will demonstrate to the world that human dignity matters more to our community and financial gain,” he said.

Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers was the only speaker in support of continuing the county’s relationship with ICE. He said that as the county’s chief law enforcement officer, he believes immigration laws should be enforced. 

“The citizens of Clearfield County deserve leaders and civil servants who will help uphold those laws and support those that do this work each and every day,” Sayers said, noting both of his parents work in the center. “That is why I stand here today with ICE, with the men and women, … that work hard every day to take care of those at the GEO institution and carry out their lawful responsibilities.”

The board voted 2-1 to accept the contract extension. Democratic Commissioner Dave Glass cast the dissenting vote. After the vote, the meeting room erupted in shouts and a chant of “Shame on you.” Absent an affirmative vote, the county’s contract with ICE was set to expire Sept. 28.

Advocates call on Clearfield County commissioners to vote ‘no’ on ICE contract extension

Glass said that he doesn’t fault those in the community who have taken well-paid jobs at the center, but he doesn’t believe the county should be involved in federal immigration policy.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things. This is the wrong way,” he said “We’re in the middle of it. We shouldn’t be in the middle of it. I don’t want to even tangentially support this, and I think there’s a better way.”

Commissioner John Sobel said he didn’t doubt the sincerity of the speakers’ beliefs, but added  he doesn’t share their concerns that the facility is poorly or inhumanely run.

“In my many contacts with the folks at GEO, and particularly the director, I have not found evidence of a consistent policy or pattern of behavior of intentional abuse or improper behavior,” Sobel said.

Sobel added that while opponents are concerned about the county taking an administrative fee, which some speakers described as “blood money,” the center provides tax revenue to Decatur Township and the Phillipsburg-Osceola School District.

“If we reject the contract, that makes it easier for GEO to go away, and in the long run, that could impact monies that these other entities are probably dependent on. I’m very uncomfortable doing that,” he said.

Sobel also encouraged those opposed to the agreement with ICE to lobby their U.S. representatives and senators to change federal policy. Several members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have been allowed to visit Moshannon Valley this year, after being denied access in the past. 

Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s office earlier this month published a letter to acting ICE Director David J. Venturella urging him to ensure the agency paid a local emergency medical clinic for services provided to detainees and staff at Moshannon Valley. 

Moshannon Valley Emergency Medical Services is owed more than $230,000 by ICE, Fetterman’s office said, as a result of a lapse in an agreement between the agency and the Veterans Administration, which had handled medical payment processing related to immigration detention.

“We do try to intervene and see if there’s something we can do to help folks there at the institution,” Sobel said. “But in the end, this is ultimately a decision that has to be made at the federal level, and that’s really who you need to be making your argument to.”

More than 10,000 people were processed through Moshannon Valley between January and August, Commissioner Tim Winters noted. The center held 1,711 people on Tuesday, he said, adding that he believes immigration reform is needed.

“This transcends party lines completely. We need comprehensive immigration reform in the United States,” Winter said. “Unfortunately, the situation we are in now involves various federal policies, federal agencies, and I want to be very clear on this: A ‘no’ vote today will have absolutely no effect on the operations of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. It will continue to operate tomorrow the same as it did yesterday.”

He said a vote against extending the contract would mean the county no longer has the ability to investigate claims of poor conditions, which he said had not been proven.

“Both Commissioner Sobel and myself have went there unannounced, eaten the same food. The claims are overblown,” he said. 

Moshannon Valley was built as a privately operated federal prison that opened in 2006 and closed in 2021, after the Biden administration banned new federal contracts with for-profit prison operators. 

It reopened later in 2021 as an ICE facility operated by GEO Group under contract with the county, in an arrangement that skirted the private prison ban. The Trump administration reversed the ban in 2025.

Immigration rights advocates note that there’s now evidence that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security intends to buy the facility. The agency issued a request for proposals last month for turnkey detention sites including one in its “Philadelphia Area of Responsibility. According to ICE, that includes all of Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. DHS said it intends to award 10-year contracts that would allow it to expand operations in the facilities.

And The GEO Group’s CEO, George C. Zoley, told investors in an earnings call in August that the company is in an “active process” to sell some of its facilities, which the company hopes to continue managing under a long-term contract. 

Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, said in a call with reporters last week that she believes the six month contract extension is needed for the parties to complete their due diligence before a sale. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, speakers strongly condemned ICE’s policies and practices, comparing it to a concentration camp

Sean Inlow, a retired state police detective, urged the commissioners to reject the contract on “legal, moral and personal grounds.” 

Inlow suggested that the arrest and detention of people awaiting due process in the immigration system is criminal. 

“If the county commissioners are going to accept this contract and they’re going to support this program, then you are participating in a criminal enterprise,” he said. “In my view, as a state trooper, I could not make those arrests.”

He added that the county’s involvement in the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan reflects badly on its people. 

“Personally speaking, I’m sick of this creeping Trumpist intimidation,” Inlow said. “I’m not hopeful, but I hope that you guys decline this contract because what we’re doing is morally wrong, criminally wrong, personally wrong.”