Study Links Beaver County to Most ICE Detentions

A congressional review of 209 arrests in western Pennsylvania finds most detainees had no criminal record or pending charges.

Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Immigration

Study Links Beaver County to Most ICE Detentions

Live Poll

Should your local police department keep its agreement with ICE?

Rep. Chris Deluzio presented a study of ICE activity in his western Pennsylvania district, finding nearly two-thirds of all detentions occurred in Beaver County. Of 209 arrests reviewed between Jan. 1 and Aug. 6, 140 people had no criminal record or pending charges.

Why it matters

The findings focus attention on how local 287(g) agreements with ICE translate into enforcement in Pennsylvania communities. Deluzio urged law enforcement agencies to avoid or rescind such agreements.

The review covered 209 arrests made between Jan. 1 and Aug. 6, with 112 detentions coded under Section 287(g) and 91 of those detainees having no record or pending charges. Nationally, 146 local police agencies hold ICE 287(g) agreements, but the extraction does not say how many of those agreements were added or canceled in the period studied.

The players

Chris Deluzio

Democratic U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District, who presented the study and urged agencies to avoid or rescind 287(g) agreements.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement, whose detention records and 287(g) partnerships with local police are central to the review.

Frontline Dignity

Organization that has trained more than 3,000 people to recognize, document and respond to immigration enforcement activity and supplied observer data for the analysis.

Donald Trump

President of the United States, whose administration's immigration enforcement policies are the context for the review and the recent election results cited.

The details

Frontline Dignity compared observer documentation with federal detention records to identify patterns, then shared its initial analysis with Deluzio's office, which conducted its own review and produced the report. The Beaver County sheriff's department and eight municipal police departments have 287(g) agreements with ICE, while Coraopolis and Stowe Township canceled theirs and the Pennsylvania State Police has no agreement.

Jan. 1 to Aug. 6: Period covered by the review of 209 arrests.
Last week: Election in which voters spoke against the Trump administration.
Last six months: Number of local 287(g) agreements nearly doubled.

Political Context

The number of local 287(g) agreements has nearly doubled in the last six months, with 146 agencies now partnered with ICE nationally. Pennsylvania's experience shows how that expansion plays out locally, as some police departments, including Coraopolis and Stowe Township, have canceled their agreements while others continue.

Residents in Beaver County and surrounding communities may see different enforcement experiences depending on whether their local police department holds a 287(g) agreement with ICE. The review highlights that local police participation directly affects who is detained in a given area.

The takeaway

Local police agreements with ICE shape detention outcomes in ways that residents can examine through public records and district data. Checking whether your community's police department participates in 287(g) is a practical first step toward understanding local enforcement.