Protest planned in Philipsburg as push for closure of nearby ICE facility continues
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Protest planned Sunday in Philipsburg to demand ICE facility contract end.
- Facility saw second detainee death in August, fueling criticism over conditions.
- ACLU and others allege rights violations; ICE disputes abuse claims at center.
As activists continue a push to draw awareness to the largest federal detention center in Pennsylvania, a protest is planned for Sunday in Philipsburg, just a few miles from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
The rally is being organized by several civil rights and Indivisible groups from across the state, and is planned for two locations: Cold Stream Dam and Philipsburg Memorial Park. In addition to drawing awareness to the facility that’s privately owned by the Florida-based GEO Group, organizers of the rally will continue to demand the Clearfield County Commissioners end the contract between the county, ICE and the GEO Group. The contract is set to run out in 2026.
Bobbi Erickson, co-founder of Indivisible: Mayday of Brockport in Elk County, attended Monday night’s Philipsburg Borough Council meeting to notify council members about the planned protest, which she expects to draw hundreds.
Attendees are expected to take buses from the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas, Erickson said, and include those who are traveling to support their community members, family members and other loved ones that are currently incarcerated in the center.
“We have a very long track record of keeping everybody at our rallies safe,” Erickson said. “We always have legal observers at our rallies; we’re committed to non-violence and we always leave the area exactly how we found it.”
Sunday’s rally follows a protest that drew about 50 people late last month and had the goal of bringing more attention to the rural facility, which is tucked into the woods of Morris Township, Clearfield County. A record average of 1,340 people were at the detention center as of June 23, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data distribution organization founded at Syracuse University.
Calls for the facility’s closure intensified earlier this month when Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese national, was found dead by the facility’s staff, hanging by his neck in the shower room of his detention pod. It marked the second death at the facility, with the first being 37-year-old Cameroonian man Frankline Okpu in 2023.
In addition to the two deaths, potential abuses at “Black Bear Alcatraz,” as it’s been dubbed by Erickson, have concerned immigration and civil rights activists since the facility opened in 2021.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and two other advocacy groups filed a complaint last year with the Department of Homeland Security after hearing from frustrated and fearful people detained there. The complaint detailed what they consider inhumane, unconstitutional and punitive conditions.
“I was horrified when I found out that this facility existed, and had so many documented reports of human rights violations and due process violations,” Erickson said Monday. “I am a patriot, I believe in the Constitution, I believe in what America stands for, I believe what’s written on our Statute of Liberty, and that is why I’m taking up action to try and help the individuals in the facility that deserve our help.”
Despite the documented abuses, ICE has mostly rejected such findings. In a news release focused on Ge, it wrote, “ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”
Currently, the facility has a capacity of 1,876, employs hundreds and costs millions to operate.
After sharing the plans for Sunday’s rally with Philipsburg Borough Council, council members raised some concerns about worship groups at the park that day and limited parking. Erickson said that buses from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would park at one of the nearby Walmart Supercenters in State College or Clearfield after dropping people off.
Philipsburg Mayor John Streno said that “it’s always good to talk” about these sort of issues, rallies and protests, and thanked Erickson for informing the council about the rally.
The rally is planned for 2 p.m. Sunday at Philipsburg Memorial Park and Cold Stream Dam. More information can be found on Indivisible: Mayday’s Facebook page.
