3 people stabbed at immigration facility near Philipsburg, taken to hospital. ‘Deeply concerning’
Three people were stabbed and taken to the hospital Monday after a large fight at an immigration processing center just outside of Centre County.
The brawl began about 2:05 p.m. Monday in the yard of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, state police at Clearfield wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
Several people were injured, including three who were stabbed with what police described as a “weapon/shank.” They were transported to Penn Highlands DuBois for treatment.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said Tuesday there were no life-threatening injuries. The federal agency also said there is “no safety risk to the general public.”
No facility employees were injured, police wrote. Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers told the Centre Daily Times on Tuesday that the fight was “detainee on detainee.”
An investigation is ongoing. No charges were filed as of Tuesday morning.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which filed a civil rights complaint last month that alleged inhumane and unconstitutional conditions at the facility, said the reported assault is “deeply concerning.”
“Our clients in detention have endured unfathomable horrors and consistent discrimination based on their identities as part of protected classes,” said Vanessa Stine, senior staff attorney for immigrant rights at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “While ICE detention should not exist, to the extent ICE keeps people behind bars, they must keep people safe and do so in a way that adheres to the most basic standards of dignity and rights.”
A barrage of first responders assisted. Hope Fire Co. posted on Facebook that more than a half-dozen EMS agencies responded, as well as a medical helicopter. The GEO Group, the privately owned company that operates the facility, deferred comment to ICE.
Once a private prison, the facility was converted in 2021 to an immigration detention center. Clearfield County’s commissioners at that time signed off on a five-year contract that made it the largest ICE facility in the northeast, one that can detain nearly 1,900 people.
In the years since, the ACLU-PA has alleged detainees have been subjected to inhumane treatment. Its complaint to the Department of Homeland Security included detailed testimonials from people currently and formerly detained, some of which said they are frustrated and fearful.
It was addressed to Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, the DHS’ Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the director of Penn State’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, where she is listed as on leave.
The Biden administration declined last month to speak publicly about the allegations it received. A spokesperson for the GEO Group said the facility “meets or exceeds ICE’s rigorous standards, and it provides all the services required by ICE.”