{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://summerlee.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/reps-lee-dean-deluzio-demand-answers-from-ice-geo-group-about-violations-at-moshannon-detention-center", "Reps. Lee, Dean, Deluzio, Demand Answers from ICE, GEO Group about Violations at Moshannon Detention Center", "2026-08-05", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Summer L. Lee", "L000602", "summerlee.house.gov", "summerlee", "https://summerlee.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Letter to ICE | Letter to GEO Group\n\nPITTSBURGH, PA \u2013 AUGUST 5, 2026 \u2014 Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (PA-04), and Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) 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 Detention Center 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 are clear: \u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be earnings calls for human detention.\u201d\n\nCongresswoman Lee and Congressman Deluzio previously conducted an unannounced oversight to Moshannon \u2014 which began operating as an ICE facility in 2021 \u2014 on May 28. They previously attempted to conduct a Moshannon visit in August 2025. Congresswoman Dean conducted an announced congressional oversight on June 17.\n\nIn August 2025, 32-year-old Chaofeng Ge died by suicide at Moshannon. In 2023, 37-year-old Frankline Okpu died in custody. In December 2025, 46-year-old Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir died in custody.\n\n\u201cThese failures are not accidental; they are the predictable result of a privatized, for-profit detention business model. As a publicly traded entity, GEO has a strict legal obligation, a fiduciary duty, to act in the best interest of its shareholders. GEO\u2019s focus on maximizing shareholder value drives aggressive cost cutting across medical personnel, nutritional quality, and translation services,\u201d the lawmakers continued.\n\nThe 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\nCongresswoman Summer Lee has been a leading voice in Congress demanding accountability, transparency, and an end to ICE\u2019s cruel detention and deportation system. She recently sent a letter with Rep. Deluzio to the Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Refugee Resettlement demanding answers about ORR's decision to place unaccompanied migrant children at Abraxas Academy in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, despite the facility's extensive record of documented child abuse violations. Rep. Lee has called to abolish ICE and oppose billions in additional ICE funding, introduced legislation to end ICE detention and redirect funding toward care, due process, and community-based services, demanded answers from ICE after the detention of a Brentwood asylum seeker, visited and called for the closure of the Moshannon Detention Facility following reports of abuse, retaliation, and a hunger strike, and recently conducted oversight of ICE detention conditions at Moshannon Valley ICE Detention Center after being illegally denied entry. She also released a statement after public reporting confirmed that the Allegheny County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office ruled the death of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian immigrant who died after being released from ICE custody, a homicide.\n\nRead the full letter to GEO here. Read the full letter to ICE here.", 1, "2026-08-06T07:37:31Z", "2026-08-06T07:38:34Z"]], "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://summerlee.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/reps-lee-dean-deluzio-demand-answers-from-ice-geo-group-about-violations-at-moshannon-detention-center"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.463210839778185, "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"}