Living in fear: ICE raids in Washington have immigrant community on edge
The recent ICE raids across the country and in Southwestern Pennsylvania, along with immigration enforcement agents in parts of downtown Washington in recent weeks, have sparked fear among immigrants in the area.
“Around last October, the fear level from 0 to 10 was at a 2. I’d say it’s now at an 8 or 9. It’s awful. People are frightened,” said the Rev. Jay Donahue, parochial vicar at St. Oscar Romero Parish in Washington. The parish includes Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Meadow Lands, where Donahue conducts a weekly Mass in Spanish for the church’s large Latino community.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Philadelphia office confirmed in an email on Friday that ICE operations have been taking place in the city of Washington.
Since Oct. 20, as many as 23 immigrants have been detained in the city of Washington and nearby communities, according to Erenia Karamcheti, director of social services at St. Oscar Romero Parish.
In one incident, three immigrants who work in construction were reportedly detained last week while stopping for breakfast at a restaurant on Jefferson Avenue.
Families of those who have been detained have turned to Karamcheti for help to locate where their loved ones are being detained, and when and if they will be given a fair hearing.
Karamcheti said a brother of one of the construction workers who was detained told her his brother, who speaks limited English, unintentionally signed a self-deportation letter and is being sent back to Guatemala.
“There’s been a very, very sharp uptick in enforcement around Pittsburgh,” said Joe Murphy, an immigration attorney with Allegheny Immigration Group. “People are being grabbed at courthouses – in one case, right in front of me – and you see people detained going to hearings, to Social Security offices and other government offices.”
ICE arrests have soared across the country since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January and the government launched a massive crackdown on immigrants.
Nationwide, ICE raids have occurred at farms, construction sites and other businesses, and near schools and other “sensitive locations” that, Murphy said, “has intentionally created an atmosphere of fear.”
Karamcheti has been using ICE’s online detainee locator system in an attempt to find where local detainees have been transported. She has tracked some to locations including Cambria County Prison and Moshannon Valley Processing Center.
City of Washington police and Washington County Sheriff’s office said they were not notified of ICE presence.
ICE operations are federal, and the agency isn’t required to notify local police of enforcement actions.
The sheriff’s office – which has a 287(g) agreement with ICE to perform some immigration enforcement duties – said its agency has received no request for assistance from ICE.
Concern over ICE activity has left families afraid to do everyday activities, said Monica Ruiz, executive director of Casa San Jose, a nonprofit support organization for Latino immigrants that has built a Rapid Response Network of trained volunteers who monitor and document ICE activity across Allegheny County and neighboring areas.
“They’re afraid to go to work, they’re afraid to send their kids to school or take them to school, and they’re scared to go to the store,” said Ruiz, noting detainments in Southwestern Pennsylvania have increased 250% since this time last year. “It has made it difficult for people to function and it obviously takes a toll on their financial stability, but it also takes a toll on their mental health.”
Karamcheti has shopped for groceries, cooked meals, and picked up prescriptions for those who prefer not to leave home, and she and others have arranged transportation for school students whose parents are afraid to drive them.
On a recent morning, Karamcheti stopped by the home of a woman whose husband, from Guatemala, has been detained at Cambria County Prison. The couple have a toddler, and she is fearful that her husband will be deported.
Earlier that week, she got a phone call from a mother whose son left for work on a Friday but didn’t show up.
“Then he called Saturday to tell her he was detained by ICE,” said Karamcheti.
Attendance at the church’s regular health, dental, and legal clinics has dropped. Donahue said 15 people had signed up to attend a health clinic operated by volunteer doctors earlier this week, but only three showed up.
Karamcheti said she had thought the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies would be aimed at violent criminals, and is alarmed that people without criminal records are being swept up.
“They are not taking criminals. They are taking hard-working people,” said Karamcheti. “These are good people, without any criminal record, who just want to work and take care of their families.”
Ruiz agreed.
“What’s important for people to understand is that this was supposed to be about detaining criminals, and what we’re seeing is that’s not what’s happening,” she said.
According to statistics from the Cato Institute, about 65% of those detained had no criminal convictions and 93% had no violent convictions, and most convictions among those with a record fell into minor offenses such as immigration or traffic violations.
Donahue said attendance at Mass at Miraculous Medal has remained steady, but noted it has dropped at other churches in the Diocese of Pittsburgh and other congregations serving the Latino community.
On Sunday, about 200 people filled the pews at a Mass that acknowledged Dia de los Muertos, a celebration of life that honors and remembers deceased loved ones.
“It was one of the biggest church services we’ve ever had,” said Donahue, who was delighted at the turnout and a celebration held later, where church members filled an altar with photos of deceased loved ones, marigolds, glowing candles, salt, and offerings of favorite food and drink. “Luckily, Mass attendance has not died down, but people are not showing up at events like they used to.”
The Catholic Church steadfastly defends the rights of immigrants.
In an email statement, Bishop Mark Eckman, bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said
“As the Catholic Church teaches, every person has dignity and worth as a child of God. The Church supports the right of nations to protect their borders while also affirming the fundamental rights of migrants and refugees to safety, family unity, and the opportunity for a dignified life. Our parishes continue to accompany those in need through prayer, pastoral care, and acts of compassion.”
Donahue, who regularly writes letters to congressional representatives and senators decrying the current U.S. anti-immigration policies, has accompanied congregants to immigration court and lobbied for the release of a church member who had been detained in Moshannon for 3 1⁄2 months before he was released.
Earlier this week, Donahue served as a translator at the immigration hearing of a parishioner from Mexico who faced deportation and a re-entry ban after her visa expired. The woman, who is engaged to a U.S. citizen and is planning a 2026 wedding, won her case.
The parish also is serving as caregiver for two children whose mother was detained and deported to Mexico, he said.
At St. Oscar Romero, a parish group launched a GoFundMe this summer to raise money for rent, food and bills for families who have lost financial resources, including its immigrant church members.
Donahue worries that the human rights and dignity of immigrants are being ignored.
“What are we doing here? The key is to see that these are human faces, not bunk bed numbers,” said Donahue, referring to a church member who was detained at Moshannon and was called “Up 25” for 3 ½ months because he occupied the top bunk of bed 25 in a 38-bed unit. “It’s dehumanizing.”
Ruiz said immigrants, who pay taxes, “bring a lot of economic value to our community.”
“Think about places in Washington County where immigrants have worked on farms and in other occupations. They’re ingrained into that community. Let’s be honest, they’re not getting any free things, they’re contributing,” she said.
Ruiz, too, is dismayed by what she calls the “inhumane” treatment of documented and undocumented immigrants who are being picked up every day in the Pittsburgh area.
“This is not who we are. I don’t want this to be who we are,” said Ruiz. “We have to be better than this.”