Vigil in support of ICE detainees held outside gates of FCI Lewisburg

LEWISBURG - About 50 people gathered Saturday afternoon outside the gates of FCI Lewisburg where about 150 immigrants are being held and spoke out about mass deportations and the impact it has on families and communities.

"The human cost of mass deportations is traumatized families and communities that are losing valuable citizens," said Janice Butler, a member of SUN Immigrant Community Support Group, which, along with the inmate advocacy group, Lewisburg Prison Project, and Catholic Worker House in Harrisburg, coordinated the vigil.

Attendees included John and Heather Kelly, of Harrisburg, who, after the vigil, began a five-day walk to St. Patrick's Cathedral in the capital city to raise awareness about the plight of their friend, Omar Viadurre Luis, a Peruvian asylum seeker who has been detained at the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg since early January.

"Omar is very special to us, but we know he's not unique," Heather Kelly said of the married father of a 5-year-old who has only had sporadic phone calls with his family in Harrisburg since his detention at the Lewisburg prison.

More than 70 percent of the 60,300 immigrants being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as of April have no criminal record, according to TRAC Reports, a nonpartisan data research center at Syracuse University.

Angela Trop, president of the Lewisburg Prison Project's board of directors, said the group has asked for a tour of the prison where the immigrant detainees are being held and is awaiting a response.

"This is our taxpayer money. How can we be a watchdog if we don't have information," she said, adding the organization "strongly opposes" immigrant detainees being held in federal prisons. "They aren't convicted felons. It is inappropriate."

John Kelly said he and his wife are hoping their 60-mile walk will "rattle complacency" and make people aware that many nonviolent immigrants are being held in the same facilities as convicted felons.

Adding to the concern are the serious deficiencies regarding staffing levels, inmate health care and building infrastructure needs found at FCI Lewisburg during an unannounced visit by the Office of the Inspector General 18 months ago, even before the facility began housing immigrant detainees, Trop said.

Butler spoke out about the economic impact of mass deportations, including tens of thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania that are being threatened by the federal policy.

Last year, Congress allocated $45 billion to build and operate new detention centers and $30 billion to detain and deport immigrants.

"That's our taxpayer dollars not being spent on education, healthcare, environmental protections ... but on concentration camps and deportations," Butler said. "We are not for open borders. We want safe communities, but we believe in the rule of law."

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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 1:24 PM.