Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series.
PHILIPSBURG — The future of Clearfield County’s partnership with federal immigration authorities at a massive detention center hinges on an upcoming vote by county commissioners.
The Geo Group, a private prison operator, in 2021 made the Moshannon Valley Processing Center an ICE detention center under an intergovernmental service agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Clearfield County — an arrangement approved by the county’s board of commissioners.
That five-year contract expires in September, leaving the county’s three commissioners to decide whether to renew the agreement and continue the local partnership.
Commissioner Dave Glass said the county receives about $3 million to $4 million per month from ICE, and they turn around and give that money to Geo Group, which runs Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
Glass, 51, of DuBois said the commissioners take out a “modest admin fee” of $200,000 per year in the transfer.
“There are millions upon millions upon millions that flow through,” he said, and the amount of money per month varies because it’s dependent upon the detention center’s population at the time, which fluctuates. “I’m pretty sure they’re charging a daily rate for these people. I’m sure it’s a complex calculation to figure out.”
The Clearfield County contract with ICE doesn’t specify the amount of money that flows from ICE to Geo Group, according to Glass.
“Geo is charging based on prisoner count, detainee count,” he said.
Moshannon Valley is the largest ICE facility in the Northeast. At most times, about 350 people are held there, in six separate units.. The facility has 417 full-time Geo employees and 27 full-time ICE employees on staff.
Read Parts 1 and 2
• Moshannon mystery: Clearfield County ICE detention center steeped in secrecy, drives local economy• Here’s what to know about the ICE detention center in Clearfield County
What the contract means
The three commissioners will be tasked to vote on whether they want to extend the contract, expiring in September.
Tim Winters, chairman of the Clearfield County Board of Commissioners, said he supports an extension of the contract with ICE because it gives the commissioners a seat at the table.
Otherwise, the facility will be in complete federal control, according to Winters.
“If we do not extend our contract, the facility will not go away — we just will not have any input,” he told TribLive. “This is so blown out of proportion. There’s so much misinformation, and I don’t want to play into it. People don’t understand the issue.”
Glass, who has been a commissioner for six years, has publicly said he won’t support the renewal of the ICE contract, and he believes he will probably be outvoted by Winters and John Sobel, the third commissioner. He voted in favor of the initial 2021 contract.
“The main reason is not so much the facility and the employees there, many of whom are our constituents,” he said. “I have had serious concerns with ICE practices, especially over the last six to eight months, and I’m really not interested in doing business with them as they’re currently constituted.”
Though there have been “small raids” by ICE in the Clearfield County area, most have happened elsewhere — like in Pittsburgh, Glass said.
“I don’t like people being just swooped up off the streets. … It was going to be a targeted facility for targeted people, you know, people with criminal backgrounds. And I still had concerns, but I did vote for that when we signed this agreement in ‘21.
“It was under certain assumptions about how it was going to be used, and frankly, the statistics show it’s not being used that way anymore. I believe that the vast majority of the people who are there now have never had a criminal complaint against them.”
Until that “gets cleaned up,” Glass said he’s not interested in doing business with ICE.
“The government came to us and said, ‘Look, we want to reopen this as an immigration detention facility, and we would like to have the county as partner in this,’ ” he said. “I don’t believe the county was even involved before — it was just a straight contract with Geo and the government. My understanding is the Biden administration didn’t feel comfortable with that and wanted the county to be the go-between.”
Despite gaining access to the processing facility by maintaining their contract with ICE, Winters said the commissioners aren’t afforded any oversight role but are “at least included under the current relationship.”
“The advantage to maintaining our local contract is it gives us a seat at the table,” he said. “We are local government; we do not set federal immigration policy, but I do like to be included in the process. I can call the warden today and be there tomorrow with any questions I have, and they would be addressed.”
The misperception, which Winters said has been perpetuated by groups of people who oppose the policies of the Trump administration, is that if the commissioners end their cooperation with ICE, Moshannon would cease operations in the county.
“There are several groups that are really pushing this, and there are people who have never been inside the facility,” he said. “I assure you … nothing will change the next day.”
When asked about a Temple University report alleging inhumane conditions at Moshannon Valley, Winters said any allegations “have been investigated” and to his knowledge “cleared through the multiple layers of oversight that the Geo Group has.”
“I’ve been there. I did not see anything that would cause me any concern of people being mistreated,” he told TribLive.
Winters called the Moshannon Valley Processing Center facility “really nice,” and noted the turf fields there.
“There’s so much misinformation being passed around about this … and that just annoys me because they’ve never been there,” he said, referring to people who have likened ICE detention facilities to concentration camps. “I know people that work there; I’ve toured the entire place top to bottom.
“People (refer to) the Gestapo, the torture — none of that happens there. It is a very orderly, organized facility.”
Concerns about ICE
Glass said that aside from his issues with ICE, Moshannon Valley puts a burden on Clearfield County’s operations, citing as an example the many records requests that have to go through due diligence.
“It just puts us in the middle of a situation I don’t necessarily think we should be in the middle of — because we don’t really have any direct oversight,” he said. “I mean, we can go up there, but we can’t go up there today. We’d have to make an appointment and go up there. So that’s not real oversight.”
Previously, Glass has toured the ICE facility.
“Thought they were pretty open about what they allowed us to see. I was keeping my eyes out for what they wouldn’t let us see,” he said. “We actually saw a fight or right after a fight. … They weren’t hiding us from that stuff. I didn’t see any evidence of people being ill-treated. But again, you know, I’ve seen the allegations.”
Glass’ main concern is the people who are being held in Moshannon Valley.
“It’s gone from what I would consider to be a detention center for people with a significant criminal background, who are here illegally, to just a roundup of anybody who’s even suspected of being here illegally — and I totally disagree with that,” he said. “It’s not what we signed up for, and I don’t think that’s what our country should be doing.”
ICE agents aren’t targeting specific individuals with criminal backgrounds, Glass said.
“ICE is just picking up people,” he said. “We’ve seen where they’re just driving down the street or walking down the street, they hear somebody with an accent, and they pull them in. If they can’t prove they’re American, they take them. I think there’s more of that, and I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
He has suspicions, however, that even if the commissioners ended the ICE contract, the Trump administration would continue running the facility. He said he’s been anti-Trump since prior to his first presidency.
“I have no illusions about how much power we have here,” Glass said. “I just don’t want to be in business with them.”
He said he gets comments from many people upset about Moshannon Valley, with most coming from outside the county.
“I think most of our citizens are either ‘ignorance is bliss’ with it, or they’re happy it’s there,” Glass said. “My priority is to make sure we don’t mistreat these people who are here trying to find the American dream, who are here already. That’s what I want.”
