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Dozens of hospital construction workers detained by ICE near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

Up to 26 construction workers from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras were stopped in two vans while traveling to build a Pennsylvania hospital tower. Witnesses say some held valid work permits; they were sent to three detention facilities.

Sep 19, 2026Danville, PA

Dozens of hospital construction workers detained by ICE near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Photo via Visa Verge

On August 19, 2025, ICE agents stopped two vans carrying construction workers on Interstate 99 and Route 220 near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, as they traveled to a job building the Mount Nittany Medical Center patient tower. ICE confirmed 24 arrests in what it called a 'targeted enforcement operation,' though immigrant rights groups said as many as 26 men — nationals of Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras — were taken into custody. A foreman driving some workers from their motel said he was pulled over by two unmarked vehicles, and witnesses said agents confiscated phones, questioned workers about their origins and work permits, and restrained them before detention, with some reportedly holding valid work permits and identification. The men were transferred to Pike County Correctional Facility, Clinton County Correctional Facility, and Moshannon Valley Processing Center. A state representative and local advocacy groups said they struggled for a week to obtain basic information about the detainees and raised due process concerns, including allegations some were coerced into signing self-deportation orders. Community organizers described the men as 'partners, sons, brothers and fathers,' saying the arrests disrupted households in the community.

“ICE and billionaires profiting off federal contracts are making billions of dollars from kidnapping our people. They are terrorizing families and attacking our neighbors who are literally building our communities. We don’t need $240 billion of our tax dollars to go to ICE and [U.S. Customs and Border Protection]; we need that money to make education, healthcare, and housing affordable.”
— Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition
“We don’t need our local police enforcing federal law. It is not their job and has proven time and again to harm public safety,”
— Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition
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