Philipsburg, Pa. — An estimated 500 Pa. residents, with support from a coalition of progressive statewide organizations, gathered across Philipsburg on Sunday, Aug. 24, to protest and demand that Moshannon Valley Processing Center be shut down and the 2026 contract not renewed.
Protesters gathered at Cold Stream Dam and Philipsburg Memorial Park. A series of speakers spoke about the alleged abuse within the facility and told personal stories from impacted communities. This was followed by a vigil for detainees outside the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on Route 322.
“Seeking safety is not a crime, and it should never carry a death sentence. I am here at Moshannon because this is not a processing center. It is a prison that profits from pain. Closing it is not a radical idea. What is truly radical is normalizing cruelty and dehumanization towards our neighbors. Every person detained here has a story, a family, and a future worth fighting for. Pennsylvania cannot turn a blind eye to this injustice. It is time for Clearfield County to end its contract with ICE, and for GEO Group to leave our state once and for all,” Representative Chris Rabb, Pennsylvania House District 200 said.
“Moshannon Valley Processing Center’s operations point to a society that chooses detention over the American Dream, incarceration over integrity, and profit over people. It operates at the expense of our taxpayer dollars and human dignity itself. No immigrant deserves to be treated as less than human — stripped of their dignity and caged for seeking safety and a future — all to the tune of lining the pockets of corporate shareholders. Pennsylvania can and must do better, and it starts by responding to the moral depravity of operating this facility in our Commonwealth," said Jamie Martinez, community defense organizer for Casa San Jose, a welcome and resource center for the immigrant community in southwestern Pa.
“This is a concentration camp in the middle of Pennsylvania where people are being held without charges, without due process, with no access to representation or appropriate medical care, and most people don’t even realize it is here. We are protesting to bring visibility to the cruelty being carried out in our name and in our state and demand that this contract not be renewed,” said co-chairwoman of Indivisible Greater Jenkintown Rabbi Elyse Wechterman.
“I think the people in this community deserve to know what this facility is: it's a ‘processing center,' not a prison, not a detention facility. That means many in this place are simply awaiting decisions on things like their asylum claims. America has failed. We said ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ then we threw them in a place run like a bad prison, with many documented human rights violations,” Bobbi Erickson, Indivisible: Mayday's co-founder said.
“As a Puerto Rican, I feel it is my responsibility to stand alongside my fellow latinos. The violent actions ICE has taken against our neighbors are deeply rooted in racist and anti-humanist ideologies that aim to further divide not only latinos, but Americans as a whole. It is in times like these that we must stand united, because as the Chilean group 'Quilapayún' says, 'El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,'" James O'Malley Gorbea, a Pittsburgh-based musician, said.
Background
Moshannon, located in Clearfield County, is the largest ICE detention facility in the northeastern United States.
Operated by the for-profit prison corporation GEO Group, this facility has become a central regional hub for detaining immigrants.
Inside its walls, detainees allegedly face solitary confinement, substandard medical care, deprivation of sufficient food and water, and a long record of human rights violations documented by legal advocates and watchdog organizations.
The facility operates under contracts between ICE, GEO Group, and the Clearfield County Commissioners — and is set to expire in 2026.
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