Clearfield Co. commissioners reaffirm immigrant detention facility deal, despite lawsuit

CLEARFIELD, Pa. (WJAC) — A controversial deal between Clearfield County and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to open an immigrant detention facility has drawn fire from citizens and activists alike. The county commissioners are being sued for allegedly not giving the public enough advanced notice before a previous meeting.

Clearfield County commissioners heard the public speak Wednesday about a controversial deal with ICE to open an immigrant detention facility, and tensions split the room.

This meeting follows a lawsuit filed against the commissioners by the Pennsylvania ACLU and other groups. They claim in the suit that the commissioners violated the Sunshine Act by not giving adequate notice to the public in advance of a previous meeting where they voted to approve the deal with ICE and GEO Group, a private prison operator.

On September 28th, the commissioners voted to approve two contracts with ice and geo group. The first one, with ICE, would convert Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility into an immigrant detention center, and the second one was with GEO Group.

The room was divided on the contracts, with immigrant rights activists and workers from Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility speaking about the issue.

"If opened, the Moshannon detention center would be the largest detention center in the Northeast, and it's operations would be run by a private company that is notorious for abuse and dehumanizing conditions. Detention is a harmful system that has grown over the last two decades, as an industry that profits from putting people in cages. Detention is not a tool for addressing immigration," said Erika Guadalupe Nuñez, Executive Director at JUNTOS.

"GEO doesn't have anything to do with who comes to our facility, we have no control," said a former warden at Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility.

"This is all done by the federal government. We always treat people with respect and dignity. As contractors, we have always operated professionally and at the direction of government partners," he added.

But there was much outrage and confusion that the commissioners had not informed the public about today's meeting far enough in advance.

"Nobody knew about it. Even today, as quickly as you guys put this meeting together, was difficult for anybody, any public citizen to be here at 2 o'clock during the work week. This is wrong," one local man told the commissioners.

The Pennsylvania ACLU and other groups have sued the commissioners for allegedly violating Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act.

"We're asking the court to void the two agreements that they took action on at the September 28th meeting, which we believe -- the way in which they held the meeting -- they did not post the agenda ahead of time and violated the Sunshine Act, and to enjoin the county from moving forward or implementing those contracts until or unless they comply with the Sunshine Act," Pennsylvania ACLU immigrant rights attorney Vanessa Stine told 6 News.

The commissioners, however, denied that they had violated the Sunshine Act, claiming that recent local legislation altered where the Sunshine Act applies in certain situations.

Ultimately, the commissioners voted unanimously to reaffirm both contracts, arguing that the facility would provide hundreds of jobs to the area.