Pennsylvania counties have billed the federal government millions of dollars for holding immigrants for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in local jails, according to a review by Spotlight PA. The report found that five counties collectively charged more than $21 million in 2024 and 2025, using agreements that can predate the second Trump administration but have gained urgency as the president carries out a mass deportation campaign that depends heavily on local detention partners.
Spotlight PA’s review said the arrangements show how Pennsylvania local governments already cooperate with ICE and other federal immigration authorities to detain immigrants, even when the federal posture toward detention is under intense national scrutiny. The report described additional federal planning underway for detention capacity, including the Department of Homeland Security’s purchase of two Pennsylvania warehouses intended to be converted into detention centers with a combined capacity to hold 9,000 people.
The county jail contracts Spotlight PA identified require approval from elected county leaders, prison oversight boards, or both, the review said. A key example of local debate came during a February meeting of the Erie County Council, where dozens of people testified for and against the county jail’s contract to hold people for federal immigration agencies. Supporters argued that federal enforcement would continue regardless of whether Erie participated, while some opponents said participating in enhanced enforcement was immoral.
At the same Erie meeting, Sister Anne McCarthy of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie—an order that has opposed local cooperation with Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown—said, “We believe that participating in any way in the enhanced enforcement is immoral.” The AP-distributed Spotlight PA reporting also quoted Fred Petrini, a Wesleyville resident and borough council member, saying, “ICE will find a different location to house their detainees.” Petrini added that the county would instead lose money that could cover expenses, saying, “We will just be out a half a million dollars in funds that could help the county with expenses.”
The reporting described how Spotlight PA obtained invoices and documents through public records requests sent to more than 30 counties, along with a review of federal detention data. The review said that invoices show detention billing by counties in 2024 and 2025, including Clinton, Erie, Franklin, and Pike Counties, and described a fifth county, Cambria, as having a similar detention arrangement based on federal records and a county official’s account. Spotlight PA reported that Cambria denied a later request for payment information because ICE did’t start sending detainees to its jail until after mid-September 2025.
Spotlight PA also described how counties said the money they receive can be used for jail operations or general county expenses. At the time of the review, Cambria County Commissioner Scott Hunt told Spotlight PA in early March that the relationship was longstanding, saying, “This is a relationship that has gone back many years,” and that he did not see a reason it would not continue, adding, “I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t continue.” The reporting said at least one county leader who was concerned about ICE actions nationally told Spotlight PA that payments had become a crucial income source that would require careful study and planning to replace.
The agreements Spotlight PA described were distinct from the more common detainer requests that ICE sends when a person is jailed on criminal charges. Spotlight PA reported that the detention contracts at issue are instead structured so local jails can operate as detention centers, including for people arrested during immigration proceedings. The review said that under the agreements, a federal immigration agent or deputized local officer can arrest an immigrant and detain them in the county jail during immigration proceedings, even when the arrest occurs miles away from the jail.
According to the review, some detained people are transferred from other criminal facilities because they have been charged with a crime and immigration enforcement is underway. But Spotlight PA reported that many detained by ICE have not been convicted or charged with a crime, citing an immigration attorney, Bridget Cambria, who described how people may be apprehended by ICE in settings such as on the street, at a home, at work, or at a check-in. Cambria also said the confinement is deemed civil but is conducted in a criminal facility.
The Spotlight PA review said the number of people held for ICE increased from 2024 to 2025, with Clinton County seeing its monthly totals rise from 80 people in January 2024 to 157 people in December 2025, according to the report. The review said some jails stated they kept civil detainees separate from inmates charged with criminal offenses, while others said civil detainees were intermingled under federal standards governing classification and housing in criminal facilities.
Spotlight PA reported that reimbursement rates in the invoices ranged from $82 to $120 per person per day, and that some counties billed for services beyond the daily per-diem rate, including medical care, transportation, video court, calls, and kosher meals. Pike County, the review said, added rooms to accommodate increases in video court hearings and video visits with attorneys, citing Warden Craig Lowe, who said the county had not exceeded maximum capacity but had purchased handheld translating devices to support communication with detainees.
In Pike County, Spotlight PA reported that the jail’s relationship with ICE generated more than $16 million in 2024 and 2025, and that the county charged ICE for more than 128,000 days. The review said Clinton County received more than $4.6 million over the same two-year period. Spotlight PA said Erie and Franklin Counties brought in close to $600,000 and about $14,000, respectively, and reported that York County previously had an intergovernmental agreement that ended in 2021.
As local scrutiny increased, Spotlight PA said county prison boards faced pressure to end collaboration with ICE, and that in some cases county leaders had the ability to renew or end the contracts. The review reported that Franklin County’s agreement was set to expire in May, and that Pike County’s expired at the end of February but received a 30-day extension to negotiate a new one. In Erie, the review said advocates speaking against cooperation prevailed, with the county council voting in late February to amend a decades-old agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to exclude detaining people for ICE. The reporting said the county later stated that as of late March it no longer had any ICE detainees.
Officials and advocates framed the dispute differently: supporters said federal enforcement would shift locations, while opponents argued that keeping ICE detention in local facilities made enforcement safer for communities by reducing participation in enhanced action. Spotlight PA reported that advocacy group Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition executive director Jasmine Rivera urged counties to reject working with ICE, saying fear and chaos created by federal agents would negatively affect local communities, even as she acknowledged the difficulty of withdrawal in the face of financial dependence.