Carlos Moreno paid a $277 fine in March 2026 for a noise complaint a neighbor reported in January, and federal agents arrested him the moment he walked out of a Pennsylvania courthouse. Nearly six months later, the Venezuelan asylum seeker, who has hearing loss and legal blindness, sat in Cambria County Prison still waiting for working hearing aids and a cane that worked. Now he is in a Texas detention center, and his family says he could be removed at any time.
The case came to light through more than six months of reporting by Spotlight PA, which began after Moreno's sister, Brenda Joves, sent the newsroom an urgent email in March describing her brother's arrest. The reporting, carried locally by PHL17.com, traces how a routine noise citation in Pottsville turned into a months-long detention at a Pennsylvania facility. Moreno has no criminal history apart from that citation, according to the reporting.
Moreno, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, and his wife, Wendys Martinez, entered the United States in 2023, applying for asylum in New York City at a time when the city's shelter system housed close to 60,000 migrants. The couple moved to Pottsville in 2024 and started a cleaning business together, earning roughly $1,200 a week. They have been together for 12 years and have four young children.
A Noise Complaint Turns Into a Federal Arrest
Pottsville police issued Moreno the noise citation after a neighbor complaint, and he was arrested by federal agents in March 2026 as he left court after paying the fine. The Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office maintains a 287(g) agreement with ICE, but Sheriff Shawn Butler said his staff was not involved in Moreno's arrest, per Spotlight PA's reporting. ICE agents instead took Moreno to a processing facility in York before transferring him to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
From there, Cambria County Prison took custody of Moreno, holding him for almost six months. The jail is one of five Pennsylvania facilities working with federal immigration enforcement agencies, and Cambria County renewed its agreement allowing ICE agents to bring detainees there in September 2025. The jail held ICE detainees.
Months Without Working Hearing Aids or a Cane
Moreno reported that his hearing aids regularly lost battery power and his cane was broken throughout his detention, and he said he spent most of his time behind bars seeking replacements. He also needed translation assistance because he was not fluent in English. Federal detention standards, including ICE's Performance-Based National Detention Standards and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, require both translation services for non-English speakers and healthcare accommodations for detainees with disabilities, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In May 2026, Cambria County Prison rejected a package containing replacement hearing aids and a cane. Megan Bursky said the package was rejected because of failed documentation. Moreno did not receive the needed medical aids until about two days before he was flown to Louisiana. Cambria County Prison Warden Kurt Wolford said Moreno received medical care at the jail.
Moreno considered giving up his asylum case rather than remain detained indefinitely, and he ultimately lost his appeal deadline. His immigration attorney had filed a habeas petition contesting his detention, but an immigration judge denied his release at a bond hearing in April 2026 and rejected his asylum claim in June, issuing an order of removal. Moreno's family had until July 1, 2026 to appeal, and Martinez paid a $1,030 fee to file a last-minute removal appeal. The appeal did not go through in time.
Giving Birth Alone While Her Husband Was Detained
Martinez gave birth to the couple's child alone on July 4, 2026, while Moreno remained in custody. She said she was asking ICE for the opportunity to care for her husband at home. Cambria County Prison eventually moved Moreno first to Louisiana and then to a detention center in Texas, where he remains as deportation looms.
Separately, Camp East Montana is a Texas detention center. Federal oversight reviews and human rights organizations documented more than 60 federal standard violations there within its first 50 days of operation, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which notes the tent facility is now the largest immigration detention center in the country.
Counties Profit as Detentions Multiply
Moreno's case unfolds against a backdrop of significant financial incentives for Pennsylvania counties that house ICE detainees. Cambria County received more than $1.5 million over nine months for holding immigration detainees. Collectively, Pennsylvania county jails made at least $21 million between 2024 and 2025 through similar arrangements, per Spotlight PA's findings.
The pattern extends beyond Cambria County. Clearfield County collects an annual $200,000 administrative fee acting as a pass-through between ICE and private operator GEO Group at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, and county commissioners voted 2-1 in September 2026 to extend that contract for six more months, according to the Altoona Mirror. Pike County, meanwhile, expects to collect $13.6 million in 2026 by housing ICE detainees, funds it plans to use to rebuild reserves and ease local property taxes, per WVIA. A 2019 report from the ACLU of Pennsylvania found county jails also draw secondary revenue from exclusive telephone contracts tied to detainees, which pay counties between 38.5% and 69% of gross call revenues.
Statewide, 130 local law enforcement agencies, sheriffs' offices, and prosecutors' offices maintain active 287(g) partnerships with ICE, contributing to nearly 5,500 immigrant arrests and detentions in 2026, as reported by Mother Jones.
Congressional Scrutiny and Judicial Pushback
Seven Pennsylvania Democratic members of Congress, led by Rep. Madeleine Dean, sent a formal demand in September 2026 to ICE, GEO Group, and Clearfield County requesting detailed financial records on taxpayer funds used to operate Moshannon Valley Processing Center, according to the Office of U.S. Representative Madeleine Dean. The lawmakers questioned why nonviolent asylum seekers are held in secure prison settings.
In August 2026, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the federal policy of holding long-term noncitizens in interior ICE custody without individualized bond hearings violates both the Constitution and federal immigration law, a decision Hoodline previously reported applies across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Whether that ruling could affect habeas petitions filed on behalf of detainees like Moreno remains an open question, as his case moved through a different track before reaching a Texas detention center. For now, Martinez waits in Pottsville, raising the couple's children and the infant she delivered alone, while her husband sits in a Texas detention center with his removal still pending.
