County Fight Contested

Clearfield County PA — Fight to Close Moshannon Valley as GEO Contract Expires

Clearfield, PA FIPS 42033

Current status: Clearfield County's five-year IGSA with GEO Group expires in 2026 (reported Sept/Nov), making the County Commissioners a pressure point to close the Northeast's largest ICE facility. Through spring 2026, an April hunger strike over medical neglect and spoiled food, three detainee deaths in three years (including the suicide of Chaofeng Ge, cited in a May 27 AP investigation), and sustained Indivisible protests have demanded non-renewal. At an April 28 commissioners meeting only Commissioner Dave Glass committed to voting against renewal; Commissioners Winters and Sobel backed GEO, citing ~$40M regional economic benefit. Reps. Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio made an unannounced facility visit May 28 calling for an overhaul.

The Fight

Clearfield County (FIPS 42033) is the legal middleman in the contract that keeps the Moshannon Valley Processing Center — the largest ICE detention facility in the Northeast (1,876-1,900 beds, operated by GEO Group) — running. The five-year Intergovernmental Service Agreement the County Commissioners approved on September 28, 2021 (effective November 2021) expires in 2026 (reported variously as September and November). The contract expires September 28, 2026, and the renewal vote is expected in September 2026 (Commissioners Winters and Sobel have said they will vote to renew; Glass opposed). That expiration is the single clearest local lever to close a facility that processes ~14,000 people a year, and immigrant-rights advocates have organized to pressure the three commissioners not to renew.

The county earns only about $200,000 per year as middleman, while citing roughly $40 million in annual regional economic benefit, $37 million in payroll, and 400+ jobs as reasons to keep the facility.

Key Details

April 2026 — Hunger strike and conditions allegations

Detainees launched a hunger strike protesting medical neglect and spoiled food. Advocates documented “black material in milk, worms in food, chilly conditions” requiring detainees to sleep in coats, verbal abuse, overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and excessive solitary confinement. A 2023 Temple University study had already called the facility “punitive, inhumane and dangerous.”

April 28, 2026 — Commissioners meeting

About a dozen Indivisible activists confronted the Clearfield County Commissioners. Only Commissioner Dave Glass committed to voting against renewal, citing broader concerns about ICE policy. Commissioners Winters and Sobel expressed confidence in GEO’s operations and the facility’s economic contribution. Charlotte Moyal attended on behalf of her husband, detained 14 months and facing deportation to Afghanistan despite a valid work permit.

Deaths

Three detainees have died at Moshannon over three years: Chaofeng Ge (Chinese citizen; died by hanging in a shower stall, no mental-health treatment in five days, no Mandarin-speaking staff, went unmonitored — cited in a May 27, 2026 AP suicide investigation), Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir, and Frankline Okpu.

May 27-28, 2026 — Escalation

Advocates held a May 27 press conference demanding the release of detainee Izzy Aly (stage 3 kidney disease) and non-renewal of the GEO contract. On May 28, 2026, U.S. Reps. Summer Lee and Chris Deluzio (both Pittsburgh-area Democrats) made an unannounced visit to the facility and called for an overhaul. The Inquirer reported they were the first members of Congress to access PA’s largest ICE detention facility, after earlier members faced blockades. Hundreds have joined repeated Philipsburg protests organized by Indivisible groups.

June 1, 2026 — Deluzio/Lee release post-visit data

Returning from the May 28 visit, Deluzio reported Monday June 1, 2026 that 1,417 people were detained at Moshannon (none of them children), and that 1,100 (about 78%) were classified “low security” — i.e., not accused of serious or violent crimes. Deluzio framed the data as “in sharp contrast with the Trump Administration’s ongoing claims that ICE is targeting … the ‘worst of the worst.’” Lee cited two recorded deaths at the facility since the prior year. Detainees raised concerns about food, healthcare, and pregnancy-related care. The lawmakers said translators and staff were not permitted inside; ICE stated it does “not provide interpreters or translation services for congressional delegations.”

Why This Fight Matters

Unlike the Berks and Schuylkill warehouse fights — where the state has regulatory leverage — Moshannon is an existing, operating facility whose fate turns on a local renewal vote. If the Clearfield commissioners decline to renew, ICE loses its primary Northeast detention hub and the downstream destination of both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia enforcement pipelines. The commissioners’ 2-1 lean toward renewal, against organized opposition and a documented death/neglect record, makes this one of the most consequential county-level detention decisions in Pennsylvania for 2026.

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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