Court Cases

The ACLU of Pennsylvania and the Community Justice Project have filed a lawsuit on behalf of Make The Road Pennsylvania, NAACP Bucks County, the BuxMont Unitarian Universalists, and an impacted Bucks County resident in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County challenging a so-called 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the Bucks County Sheriff entered into without authorization of the county’s governing body, the Bucks County Commissioners. ICE uses such agreements to deputize local law enforcement to act as immigration agents. The lawsuit argues that Sheriff Fred Harran illegally entered into the 287(g) because he failed to consult with and get approval from Bucks County Commissioners, the majority of whom oppose the agreement. By entering into this agreement over the County Board of Commissioners’ objection, the Sheriff violated both the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Cooperation Act. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction that would prevent the agreement from taking effect.

On April 15, 2025, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the National ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project (“IRP”) sued President Donald Trump and other high-level administration officials to stop the potential deportation of A.S.R., a Venezuelan man who has been living in the United States with his wife, his child, and two step-children since 2023. A.S.R. and his family fled Venezuela when groups associated with the Maduro regime threatened him with extortion. He has petitioned for asylum in the United States. A.S.R. was arrested on February 26, 2025 at his first ICE supervision check-in. ICE told A.S.R. that a neighbor had accused him of being a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, an allegation that A.S.R. adamantly denies. He was taken to ICE detention at Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an immigration detention facility in Philipsburg, PA that is run by the for-profit corporation GEO Group. The ACLU filed its lawsuit on behalf of A.S.R. and a class of similarly situated Venezuelan nationals who are at or may in the future be at Moshannon and are under threat of deportation as a result of Trump’s executive order improperly using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove people from the country. The act is intended for use only in wartime, in a declared war against a foreign invasion or government, and has only been used three times in the nation’s history – during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. The government has produced no evidence that A.S.R. is a member of Tren de Aragua. And its use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove him or anyone else from the country, sending them to a notorious prison in El Salvador where people are sent to die, is illegal, immoral, and unethical. On April 15, a federal district court in Western Pennsylvania issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deporting, and removing from the Western District of Pennsylvania, A.S.R. and similarly situated people detained at Moshannon. Unfortunately, ICE transferred A.S.R. and about ten other Venezuelan men out of the district on April 15, to Bluebonnet Detention Center in Texas, where he remains detained. On April 17, the court extended that order pending further briefing. The ACLU is asking the court to continue its order stopping the deportation of A.S.R and others like him as the litigation proceeds and issuing a writ of habeas corpus, meaning that A.S.R. and others would have the opportunity to challenge their detention and the application of the Alien Enemies Act to him and others like him.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a Freedom of Information Act request in federal court regarding the detention and deportation proceedings of Sereyrath "One" Van, a longtime lawful permanent resident who resided in Philadelphia prior to his detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mr. Van was born in Thailand in 1980 after his family fled the Cambodian genocide. He was admitted to the United States as a refugee at the age of four, and is now a Green Card holder. After a 2018 arrest, ICE began removal proceedings against Mr. Van. In 2021, an immigration judge ordered that Mr. Van be deported to Thailand, or if not possible, to Cambodia – a country that Mr. Van has never set foot in. At the time, ICE was unable to remove Mr. Van. They re-detained him briefly in 2023 but released him again, this time under ICE supervision. For months, Mr. Van complied with his order of supervision, which included regular check-ins at an ICE field office. In August 2024, ICE detained Mr. Van at his ICE check-in and brought him to Moshannon Valley Processing Center. The Freedom of Information Act request filed on behalf of Mr. Van seeks all records regarding ICE’s detention and planned deportation of Mr. Van, including any correspondence between embassy officials and ICE. This is particularly important because Mr. Van faces removal to a country where he has never set foot and his removal order, which ICE provided to him and which ICE has to provide to embassies to seek travel documents, had been visibly modified. Having an understanding of the representations ICE has made in seeking travel documents for him—including whether the altered removal order was used to seek travel documents under false pretenses—and ICE’s policies and practices on seeking travel documents is critical in protecting Mr. Van’s rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the National Immigration Litigation Alliance have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania seeking the production of records regarding allegations of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County. The Moshannon facility has been subject to a number of allegations of abuse and an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties since opening as an immigration detention center in 2021, operated by the private prison corporation GEO Group. Moshannon Valley is the largest ICE detention center in the Northeast. ICE’s failure to release these records is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. This lawsuit asks the United States District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania to compel ICE to release these records.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal complaint on behalf of the widow of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee who died while incarcerated at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in December of 2023. Frankline Okpu was a Cameroonian citizen who won immigration relief under the Convention Against Torture in October of 2023. ICE refused to release Mr. Okpu as the agency appealed this decision. In December of 2023, ICE officials found Mr. Okpu unresponsive in his solitary confinement cell. In ICE’s Detainee Death Report – the only public disclosure of the details of Mr. Okpu’s death – ICE claims that Mr. Okpu died as a result of MDMA (or ecstasy) toxicity. In May 2024, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of Mr. Okpu’s widow to obtain Mr. Okpu’s detention file, medical records, autopsy report, and any witness statements and documented investigations into Mr. Okpu’s death. ICE’s failure to release these records is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. This lawsuit asks the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to compel ICE to release the records to Mr. Okpu’s family.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties over the treatment of a Mauritanian national, Mr. Niang, who is seeking political asylum in the United States.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a federal complaint with the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties over inhumane conditions at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.

On October 28, 2021, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the law firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP filed a lawsuit against the Clearfield County commissioners for failing to follow state law when the commissioners voted to approve contracts with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).