Navigating the ICE Detention Maze in Pennsylvania: What Families Need to Know

If someone you know has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), brace yourself for a labyrinth of obstacles designed to isolate and silence. The absence of a centralized detention system means that even confirming where a loved one is held can take days. Worse, ICE frequently transfers detainees between facilities without notice, severing contact and legal access.

Pennsylvania exemplifies this chaotic system. ICE contracts with multiple county jails—like those in Pike, Clinton, Cambria, and Franklin counties—and with private prison operators such as the Geo Group, which runs the massive Moshannon Valley Processing Center. This facility alone holds nearly 1,900 people and is located over 100 miles from any nonprofit immigration legal services, making access to counsel a distant hope.

Federal policies have tightened the noose on detainees. New ICE guidance mandates detention without bond hearings for anyone who entered the U.S. without a visa, a policy currently challenged by the ACLU and others. The result: immigration detention rates have soared to unprecedented levels, with over 70,000 people detained nationwide in January 2026 and over 2,000 in Pennsylvania as of April.

Communication is another hurdle. Upon detention, individuals lose their belongings, including cellphones, and must pay for calls to family, often relying on others to fund their commissary accounts. The termination of the Legal Orientation Program in 2025, justified by an executive order targeting services for “removable or illegal aliens,” further cuts off detainees from vital legal assistance.

Transfers—often out-of-state—have surged since President Trump’s 2024 reelection, rising from 18% to 55% for noncriminal Latino detainees according to a UCLA study. These moves disrupt family contact and legal representation, sometimes serving as retaliation against those who complain.

So, how do you find someone in this system? Start with the ICE online detainee locator, which requires either the detainee’s “A number” or full name and date of birth. Knowing these details can be a lifeline in a system designed to obscure.

This patchwork of contracts, policies, and punitive practices reveals an ICE detention system built for opacity and control—not justice or humanity. Families seeking to support detained loved ones must navigate this maze with urgency and persistence. We’ll keep tracking the abuses and exposing the corruption behind this broken system. Because in this fight, silence is complicity.