Two Pittsburgh-area members of Congress slipped into Clearfield County on Thursday for an unannounced visit to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a remote ICE detention site that has become a flashpoint for protests and legal fights. Reps. Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee say they tried to see a Springdale resident held there, but were turned down, and instead spent their time speaking with women detained inside. A single Pittsburgh-area TV reporter was allowed to tag along as the only local journalist on the tour. The quiet visit lands just as pressure is ramping up over conditions at the privately run facility.
Lawmakers say they were denied access
According to WTAE, Deluzio and Lee arrived without advance notice at the GEO Group-operated center in Decatur Township and asked to meet with detainee Randy Cordova Flores. Facility staff refused, WTAE reported, citing the lack of prior scheduling, though ICE and GEO Group did facilitate a broader tour of the site.
WTAE also identified its own Kalea Gunderson as the only Pittsburgh-area reporter allowed on the visit, underscoring how tightly controlled access to the center remains, even when members of Congress show up at the door.
About the Moshannon Valley Processing Center
ICE's facility page lists the center’s address as 555 GEO Drive in Philipsburg and spells out how attorneys and family members can schedule visits, including phone contacts and an email address for legal appointments. The lockup is run under an intergovernmental agreement between Clearfield County and the private prison firm GEO Group, which lists a capacity of roughly 1,876 beds.
Its isolation in rural central Pennsylvania has not kept it out of the spotlight. In recent months, the facility has become a rallying point for public protests and legal challenges over how ICE detains immigrants in the region.
The detainee they sought to reach
Deluzio and Lee specifically requested to speak with Randy Cordova Flores, who was taken into ICE custody after a Feb. 10 traffic stop in Springdale, according to Public Source. That arrest sparked a Valentine’s Day rally and criticism of Springdale’s new 287(g) agreement with ICE, WESA reported.
Deluzio’s office has said it is in contact with Flores’ family and attorneys as questions continue to swirl around the circumstances of the arrest and detention.
Why advocates are watching
Advocates and immigration lawyers say the Moshannon facility is under renewed scrutiny after reports of medical neglect, a detainee hunger strike, and multiple in-custody deaths. WHYY recently highlighted cases in which detainees allegedly struggled to get urgent medical care and noted previous deaths at the site. Reporting compiled by Documented detailed hunger-strike allegations and local calls to shut the center down.
Those concerns help explain why two members of Congress decided to show up unannounced at a facility tucked far from the population centers where many detainees once lived and worked.
What comes next
The visit gives Deluzio and Lee fresh material to press ICE and GEO Group for answers, potentially setting the stage for formal oversight letters or additional inquiries from Capitol Hill. Deluzio has already challenged ICE over transfers and prolonged detentions tied to Moshannon, in a case spotlighted in a high-profile Carnegie ICE showdown.
Community organizers say renewed attention from Congress could also crank up political pressure on Clearfield County commissioners, who control key agreements with ICE and GEO Group and must decide whether to keep those contracts alive.
Legal and oversight angle
Local reporting has already unpacked how Springdale’s 287(g) deal and Clearfield County’s intergovernmental service agreement with ICE help determine who ends up in Moshannon, a context that could be central to any formal investigation. Public Source and ICE’s own documentation trace the pipeline from local policing decisions to detention inside the Clearfield County facility.
