{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://deluzio.house.gov/media/press-releases/deluzio-dean-lee-demand-answers-ice-geo-group-about-violations-moshannon", "Deluzio, Dean, Lee Demand Answers from ICE, GEO Group about Violations at Moshannon Detention Center", "2026-08-06", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Christopher R. Deluzio", "D000530", "deluzio.house.gov", "deluzio", "https://deluzio.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 This week, Pennsylvania Congressmembers Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), and Summer Lee (PA-12) wrote letters to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the GEO Group, the for-profit prison corporation that owns and operates Moshannon Valley Processing Center (MVPC) in Philipsburg, PA, to demand answers on GEO\u2019s failure to comply with federal standards of adequate staffing and medical care to detainees, as well as obstruction of congressional oversight.\n\nAhead of GEO\u2019s Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call, the Pennsylvania lawmakers said clearly that, \u201cthere shouldn\u2019t be earnings calls for human detention.\u201d\n\nAs ICE\u2019s reckless, and at times deadly, arrests proliferate across the country, Congressman Deluzio and Congresswoman Lee conducted the first successful unannounced oversight to MVPC on May 28, 2026. MVPC began operating as an ICE facility in 2021 and is currently the largest ICE detention facility in Pennsylvania.\n\nCongresswoman Dean conducted an announced congressional oversight visit to the same facility on June 17, 2026.\n\nDuring Congressman Deluzio and Congresswoman Lee\u2019s oversight at Moshannon, their staff members who could provide translation and casework services were denied entry. This limited their ability to speak with people detained in the facility. Still, they learned that the vast majority of people detained in Moshannon are considered \u201clow-security,\u201d meaning they have not been accused of serious, violent crimes or engaged in similar conduct while detained. Additionally, detained women in the facility had concerns about food and medical care, including care for pregnant women. Writ large, there were major differences between what Moshannon leadership told the members of Congress, and the stories that detained people shared, especially about medical care, food quality, and ability to stay updated on their legal cases.\n\nCongresswoman Dean was denied from speaking with detainees during her announced oversight visit to the ICE facility.\n\nActing ICE Director David Venturella spent more than a decade as a GEO senior executive and then as a consultant\u2014a grave conflict of interest.\n\nThe Congressmembers\u2019 letter to GEO reads, \u201cIt is my constitutional duty to ensure that federal contractors honor their legal obligations and that taxpayer dollars do not fund systemic neglect or cruelty.\u201d\n\nAnd continues, \u201cHaving a former high-ranking GEO executive with an active non-compete clause serving as Acting Director of ICE raises profound questions of self-dealing, regulatory capture, and whether ICE will ever hold GEO to account for its material contractual breaches.\u201d\n\nThe Pennsylvania lawmakers requested answers from both ICE and GEO regarding federal contract compliance, a commitment to congressional oversight, and recusal agreements governing former ICE and DHS officials currently employed by or consulting for GEO and current ICE and DHS employees formerly employed by or consulting for GEO.\n\nRead the full letter to GEO here.\n\nRead the full letter to ICE here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-07T06:11:19Z", "2026-08-07T06:12:42Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://deluzio.house.gov/media/press-releases/deluzio-dean-lee-demand-answers-ice-geo-group-about-violations-moshannon"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6813911497592926, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}