State police release dashcam footage after ICE arrests in Centre County
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Dashcam videos show Pennsylvania troopers stopping near ICE highway arrests.
- Videos confirm two brief trooper interactions; no body camera audio or footage exists.
- ICE reported 24 arrests during targeted operation; local groups say workers were detained.
Newly released dashcam footage offers insight into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that resulted in the August arrests of two dozen people on a highway in Centre County.
The two videos were obtained after the Centre Daily Times sued the Pennsylvania State Police for footage related to the first large-scale ICE arrests in the county since President Donald Trump retook office in January.
They appear to verify the role and public statements of the state police, which had been accused by immigrants rights groups of assisting ICE. The department’s policies prohibit troopers from assisting federal immigration officials.
In one video, a trooper can be seen activating his emergency lights at 5:49 a.m. Aug. 19 on Interstate 99 southbound in Benner Township. He pulled behind two vehicles on the shoulder of the highway.
The trooper interacted with a person wearing a vest for about 40 seconds, returned to his patrol vehicle and then left the scene at 5:51 a.m.
The second video shows a trooper stopping about 15 minutes later, shortly before sunrise, at nearly the same location. He similarly pulled behind three vehicles on the shoulder, interacted for about 20 seconds, returned to his vehicle and departed.
Both videos lacked audio. Mobile video recorders are mounted inside patrol vehicles and record video only, a state police spokesperson told the CDT. The agency also said in a court filing that no corresponding body camera footage exists.
The spokesperson said the troopers seen in the videos did not conduct traffic stops, but instead “merely stopped to check on the situation” and did not activate their body cameras.
State police said the troopers were not required to activate their body cameras in the situation. They cited an interim regulation that outlines situations where troopers are required to use recorders, as well as exemptions.
“As we have made clear from the very beginning, the PSP was not involved in this ICE operation,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Troopers did not initiate a traffic stop or take enforcement action during these incidents. They merely stopped to check on the situation.”
State police initially denied the CDT’s request for footage from the August incident. The request was made under Act 22, a 2017 law that governs public access to audio and video recordings made by law enforcement agencies. The CDT, represented by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a national organization providing pro bono legal services for journalists and newsrooms in the U.S., filed a lawsuit last month to obtain the footage, arguing that the request was improperly denied.
After the state police agreed to release the footage earlier this month, the lawsuit was discontinued.
What happened during the Centre County ICE arrests?
ICE said its Enforcement and Removal Operations officers arrested 24 people in what it called a “targeted enforcement operation” for violations of immigration laws. Four local immigrants rights groups said the men were arrested while traveling to work at the construction site at Mount Nittany Medical Center.
ICE identified only two of those arrested. One was a suspected member of the violent Central American street gang MS-13 and another who ICE said has convictions of assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
The immigrant rights groups identified all the arrested men as being nationals from Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. Those groups included the Centre County Rapid Response Network, People’s Defense Front, Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity, and the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition.
State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, previously said the workers were believed to have been staying at hotels in his district. He also said he received confirmation from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office that state police were alerted ahead of time that there would be ICE activity, but that they did not participate in the traffic stops or enforcement action.
ICE said seven of those arrested had final orders of removal and four were previously expelled under a public health measure that allowed for the immediate expulsion of migrants during the COVID-19 period from March 2020 until May 2023.