Pa. county official calls for ICE’s eviction, demands overdue rent
Posted For: Hauviette
Lehigh County’s top financial official is calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be evicted from county-owned property.
County Controller Mark Pinsley said ICE has not paid rent for nearly three years for office space in county buildings. He also noted that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, never completed a valid lease agreement.
“We found that they haven’t been paying for nearly three years and they’ve been occupying space,” Pinsley said. “And because of what’s going on in Minneapolis and other places, I don’t believe that we should be housing or helping them in any form or fashion.”
Pinsley urged county officials on Tuesday to support demands for ICE to immediately pay more than $115,000 in overdue rent and to terminate all ongoing lease negotiations with DHS. He also called for the agency’s eviction and for accountability from county officials who allowed the arrangement to persist.
“They owe us money, and I believe that they should pay,” Pinsley said. “Pay your bill. Pack your stuff and get out. I don’t believe that we should sign a contract or a lease agreement with them at all. These guys, in my opinion, are terrorizing neighborhoods and our residents. We as the county government should not be partaking in that. We saw what happened in Minneapolis. Innocent lives have been destroyed. People have been killed.”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The call comes amid an aggressive effort by the Trump administration to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Federal immigration agents have been deployed to U.S. cities including Chicago, Charlotte, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis, leading to protests, violence, and in some cases, deaths.
In Minneapolis and St. Paul, ICE operations have sparked deadly incidents, including the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, followed by another shooting a week later during an attempted arrest. Violent protests have erupted across both cities.
The lease in question was originally executed under former county executive Phil Armstrong. Josh Siegel, a former state lawmaker, was elected Lehigh County Executive last year. Democrats hold a 7-2 majority on the board of commissioners. Siegel and the county’s two Republican commissioners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pinsley noted ICE maintains a presence across the Lehigh Valley, which includes a significant and growing Latino population in cities like Allentown, Bethlehem, and Reading. “They’re in our courts on a regular basis,” he said. “They’re in our courtrooms, in our court building. They’ve been down at some of the work sites. They were at Home Depot not so long ago.”
According to Pinsley, county taxpayers have been covering the costs of utilities, maintenance, and operations for the federal agency. He said the situation began three years ago when the county and DHS reached an agreement for ICE to rent the space. The agreement was fast-tracked due to an immediate need, and a memorandum of understanding was executed. Pinsley said the DHS official who signed it did not have the authority, and the final lease was never properly executed.
The issue came to light recently with the transition to the current county administration. “At some point there was just a lot of back and forth trying to get the contract signed, and in the end, it was never signed,” Pinsley said.
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