ICE Holds Harrisburg Father for Five Months After Charges Dropped, Plans Deportation to Wrong Country

Detained Despite Innocence

Omar Viadurre Luis walked into a Pennsylvania courtroom last summer expecting to answer for a misdemeanor charge from a traffic stop. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were waiting to take him into custody.

Five months later, he remains detained even though those charges have been dropped.

"ICE is detaining people even though they don't have a criminal record… or, like in Omar's case, where the charges were dismissed and he was deemed innocent," said Ricky Palladino, Viadurre Luis' attorney with Palladino, Isbell & Casazza, LLC.

The Harrisburg father came to the United States three years ago with his family, fleeing what his wife Laura Ramirez describes as life-threatening danger in Peru. He's now seeking asylum while ICE holds him in indefinite detention.

Deportation to the Wrong Country

In a twist that highlights the dysfunction of immigration enforcement, Viadurre Luis—a Peruvian national—now faces deportation to Ecuador, a country he has never been to.

After initially being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, he was transferred to a federal prison in Lewisburg that now houses ICE detainees. He petitioned for a bond hearing but was denied release.

"For me, these five months are difficult," Ramirez said at a Tuesday rally in Harrisburg calling for her husband's release. "I stay strong for you. I hope you come back home with me and our son, and I miss you."

A Pattern of Indefinite Detention

Advocates say Viadurre Luis' case reflects broader problems with how ICE operates detention facilities in Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania is home to the largest detention center in the Northeast, the Moshannon Valley detention center," said Julissa Morales with the Movement of Immigrant Leaders of Pennsylvania. "We call for an end to all deportation and all detention centers."

The Moshannon Valley facility has become a focal point for immigration enforcement in the region, housing hundreds of detainees—many of whom, like Viadurre Luis, have no criminal convictions.

Legal experts note that ICE has broad authority to detain individuals during immigration proceedings, even when criminal charges are dismissed or never filed. The agency is not required to release detainees on bond, leaving families separated for months or years while cases wind through immigration courts.

Family Fights for Release

Ramirez and supporters gathered Tuesday to demand Viadurre Luis be released while his asylum case proceeds.

"My husband is a good friend, a good father, a good brother in Christ and a good husband," Ramirez said.

Palladino says the legal strategy now focuses on getting a federal judge to review the case and order his release. The family argues there's no justification for continued detention when the criminal charges that led to his arrest have been dismissed.

"Detention and deportation impacts everyone," Morales said.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment about why Viadurre Luis remains detained after charges were dropped, or why a Peruvian asylum seeker is slated for deportation to Ecuador.

The case underscores how immigration enforcement can ensnare people with no criminal history, separating families indefinitely while bureaucratic processes grind forward. For the Viadurre Luis family, each day means another day apart—with no clear timeline for when, or if, he'll come home.