What is the status of ICE operations in the Philadelphia region?
The Philadelphia ICE Field Office, the communications contact for Pennsylvania and Delaware, and the Newark ICE Field Office in New Jersey did not immediately respond to requests for information about how many agents are stationed in the region. Nationwide, the agency has more than doubled its ranks in the past year.
Although Philadelphia and the surrounding area have not been subject to the intensive immigration enforcement operations seen in Minneapolis, Charlotte, Chicago, Memphis and other Democratic-led cities across the country, immigration detentions across the region have risen sharply since President Donald Trump began his second term.
In January, Gov. Josh Shapiro told late-night host Stephen Colbert that he and his administration have spent “hours and hours and hours” preparing in the event federal troops are sent to Philadelphia or elsewhere in the state.
More than 70% of people currently detained by ICE do not have a criminal record, according to data from Transactional Access Records Clearinghouse, a research group that compiles immigration detention data via records requests.
Detention centers in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey
Advocates say most people who are arrested in Philadelphia are detained at the Federal Detention Center Philadelphia and Moshannon Valley Processing Center, in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, the largest immigrant detention facility in Pennsylvania and the Northeast, with a capacity of 1,876.
Other facilities where immigrants are detained in Pennsylvania include FCI Lewisburg, Cambria County Jail, Clinton County Correctional Facility, Erie County Jail, Franklin County Jail and Pike County Jail.
In February, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security purchased a warehouse in nearby Berks County for potential use as an immigrant detention center. DHS has also leased office space in Berwyn, Chester County, although a spokesperson for the property said the space “will not house ICE agents or support their operations.”
In a Feb. 12 letter to federal officials, Shapiro said the state would not issue necessary permits for potential detention facilities in warehouses in Berks and Schuylkill counties.
Shapiro met with leaders from both counties on Feb. 26, and said he is “determined” to do everything possible to halt the administration’s plans to locate detention centers in warehouses in Pennsylvania.
The two main immigration detention centers located in New Jersey are Delaney Hall Correctional Facility and Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility. DHS recently purchased a warehouse in Roxbury Township, Morris County, to be used as an immigrant detention center.
New Jersey U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim introduced legislation on Feb. 26 that would ban similar purchases in the future. The End Warehouse Detention Act would prohibit use of funds from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to purchase or use warehouses as detention facilities.