(TNS) — In the wake of the latest death of an ICE detainee, immigration and social justice advocates are calling on federal and local officials to shut down one of the largest federal immigration detention centers in Pennsylvania.

A coalition of advocates on Thursday described the conditions at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County as inhumane and in violation of civil and human rights.

The call comes after the death of a 32-year-old Chinese man this week who was being held by ICE at Moshannon. The coalition includes Shut Down Detention Campaign, Detention Watch Network, Free Migration Project, Juntos, CAIR PA, May Day, and Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition.

Federal immigration officials said Chaofeng Ge, of Flushing, N.Y., was pronounced dead by the Clearfield County coroner on Tuesday, Aug, 5. Officials ruled the death a suicide; the case is under investigation.

Immigration advocates have for months tried to bring attention to the Philipsburg-based detention center and what they claim is its mistreatment of detainees, including withholding proper medical care.

“This most recent death serves as a reminder of what we know,” said Erika Guadalupe Nunez of the immigration advocacy group Juntos. “Moshannon should not exist and we want it closed now. The power is in the hands of the county commissioners to end this contract and free our local community from the harms of this local detention center.”

Clearfield County officials signed a contract with ICE and Geo Group, a private prison operation company, in 2023. Since then advocates like Nunez have been visiting the facility and meeting with dozens of detainees, documenting widespread physical and psychological abuse, neglect of medical care of detainees and the rampant use of solitary confinement.

During a one-hour press conference on Thursday, the coalition of advocates played the taped testimony of a man who was held at Moshannon. He was identified only as “Santiago.”

In his testimony, which was given in Spanish, Santiago said he was placed in solitary confinement for two months after a minor altercation with another inmate.

“They treated me like I was an animal,” Santiago said.

He said he was placed in “the hole” for two months, “locked up in a cell as if I were an animal. As if I had murdered someone. What I had done was argue with a fellow detainee.”

Nunez said that Afro-Latino detainees are subjected to harsher treatment.

“We see reports of solitary confinement and in general, just disproportionately harsher punishment based on their skin color,” she said.

In 2023, Franklin Okpu, a Cameroonian national, passed away while in ICE detention at Moshannon. The agency, citing final autopsy, ruled Okpu’s death as accidental from ecstasy toxicity combined with medical conditions such as coronary artery disease and heart enlargement.

Alexandra Iwanenko, an Erie-based immigration attorney with several clients who are being held in Moshannon, described similar conditions at the center.

She shared the testimony of one of her clients who was held at Moshannon, and reported that his feet and hands were tied.

“I couldn’t eat, and many times I asked for water, and they didn’t give it to me,” her client said in taped testimony.

Iwanenko said her client was transferred from detention in Erie County to Moshannon in an expedited manner. In just a matter of days, her client was deported and without a hearing.

“So there’s human rights violations concerns, obviously, people not having access to food and water,” Iwanenko said. “There’s due process and legal access concerns. Not being able to speak with clients when they are asking to speak to their attorney, and then being deported without ever seeing a deportation order or any type of expedited removal or any process that existed before he was returned to his home country.”

Advocates are demanding that local county officials cease cooperating with ICE. They specifically noted Dauphin County officials, who turned Ge over to federal immigration sources.

Ge was arrested in January by Lower Paxton Police on credit card fraud charges. Ge had been in ICE custody for five days and was awaiting an immigration review hearing before the Department of Justice.

Since the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policy, which aims to deport 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day, began immigration advocates have amassed local support to bring Clearfield County and federal officials under pressure to shut down the detention operation in Moshannon.

“I live about 30 miles from the facility and I only became aware of its existence in June of this year,” said Bobbi Erickson, co-founder of Indivisible Mayday of Brockport in Elk County. “I was horrified to learn that something like this existed in my backyard. I, in collaboration with my group members, became determined to make sure our neighbors, friends and community were aware of what was happening in our own backyards.”

Erickson’s coalition has recruited faith leaders and clergy, among other community leaders in calling for an end to ICE operations in Moshannon.

“More and more locals are waking up to what’s really happening here,” she said. “These atrocities aren’t happening in some faraway community. They’re happening right here. In our own backyard. People can now see what was purposefully hidden from them in the woods isn’t just a building. It’s a for-profit human rights violation.”

Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director for Detention Watch Network, noted that the 13 deaths of detainees in ICE custody so far this year underscores the agency’s lack of transparency and reporting.

“In immigration detention, deprivation of freedom, isolation, uncertainty, and abysmal conditions, including inadequate medical care and mental health services, are a lethal combination that puts lives in jeopardy,” Ghandehari said.

“Trump’s cruel mass detention expansion is exacerbating inhumane conditions that are inherent to the ICE detention system and have been well-documented now for decades. Over just the last six months, there have been increasing reports of death, medical neglect, overcrowding, lack of food, and rampant transfers that cut people off from their loved ones and support networks, including access to legal counsel.”

In its notification of Ge’s death on its website, ICE stated that it “remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments.”

Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay, the ICE statement says.

“All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care,” the statement reads “At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”

If you or someone you know is at risk for suicide, contact the national crisis hotline by calling or texting 988.