Plans for former prison near Philipsburg to become an ICE facility face legal challenge
A civil rights organization and an immigrants’ rights group launched a legal challenge Thursday to void the contracts that would allow the largest immigration detention center in the Northeast to open in Clearfield County.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Juntos accused the county’s commissioners in a lawsuit of violating state law when they signed two agreements in September to repurpose the former Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility.
Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act requires public agencies to publish an agenda online at least one day before the meeting that details what is expected to be voted on.
Clearfield County commissioners John Sobel, Tony Scotto and Dave Glass did not, the 14-page lawsuit alleged. The trio declined comment.
“In our democratic form of government, the public has a right to know what elected officials are doing,” ACLU Executive Director Reggie Shuford said in a written statement. “The county commissioners are required by law to inform the public of their business, and they failed to do so in this instance.”
The county’s decision-makers provided public notice that a meeting was scheduled, but did not offer specifics of what was on the agenda. That took away an opportunity for residents to comment on the contracts, the ACLU wrote.
The commissioners approved five-year contracts with the GEO Group — a private prison company — and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to repurpose the former federal prison for immigrant detention.
“The county commissioners took a great deal of input from GEO and ICE, but almost none from the public. None of these details were known or seen by the public before they decided,” said Tim Smith, a Blair County man who joined the ACLU in filing the lawsuit. “We now know that this is a very bad deal for the people. An open meeting will allow us to point this out.”
The future of the nearly 1,900-bed facility that sits less than five miles from Philipsburg has been in limbo for much of the year.
It most recently operated as the Moshannon Valley Correctional Center until March 31, when GEO’s contract with the federal government expired.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January directing the Department of Justice to end contracts with private companies that operate prisons, making good on a campaign promise.
The ACLU and Juntos are among the more than 200 organizations who have urged Biden’s administration to expand the executive order to end contracts with private companies for civil immigrant detention.
Serious discussions between GEO, ICE and the commissioners began after York County ended its contract with ICE in August, the ACLU wrote.
“The matter is one not only of vital local importance, but also one that carries profound regional and even national implications,” attorney Tom Schmidt wrote in the lawsuit.
Added Juntos Executive Director Erika Guadalupe Nuñez in a written statement: “Immigration detention is dehumanizing, whether it’s run by a government or a corporation. And it’s unnecessary. People in our communities are best served by being at home with their loved ones while their immigration cases proceed.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 2:47 PM.