Location: Moshannon Valley Processing Center, Clearfield County, Michigan
Date: Hunger strike began April 16, 2026
Around 100 immigrant detainees went on hunger strike after a detainee experienced a medical emergency and was refused proper medical treatment.
According to Penn Live:
A man started gagging and lost consciousness Wednesday evening inside an ICE detention center in Pennsylvania, and staff failed to give him proper medical attention, according to a source inside the facility.
Instead, staff at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County told other detainees to help him, according to one man who witnessed the incident.
“He vomited a green substance and fainted,” the man said. “His body was white. He was shaking and sweating and officials paid no attention to him.”
According to the man, who asked not to be named to avoid retaliation, this was the third person to be hospitalized after facing similar symptoms.
He said staff told detainees it was a “common cold” but family members of people inside the facility speculate that they could be suffering from an intestinal infection.
As a result of this medical emergency, men on his block have undertaken a hunger strike to protest the conditions inside the facility.
On April 22, Penn Live reported that five detainees had been taken to solitary confinement following the strike.
In the midst of the strike, an outside support group called The Shut Down Detention campaign posted on Instagram:
This week’s crisis unfolds against a backdrop of death. Since Moshannon opened in 2021, at least three people have died in the facility’s custody.
Frankline Okpu, Chaofeng Ge, and Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir. Three deaths. Three years. Zero accountability.The Shut Down Detention campaign calls on Clearfield County commissioners Tim Winters, John Sobel, and Dave Glass to immediately end the County’s contracts with ICE. The Shut Down Detention Campaign demands:
• Clearfield County Commissioners immediately end their contract with ICE and GEO Group
• Immediate release of detainees who are sick and on hunger strike. They need their freedom to access proper medical care
We stand with the hunger strikers. We stand with the families of those who have died. And we will not stop until Moshannon is shut down.
#ShutDownMoshannon#CommunitiesNotCages#AbolishICE#FreeThemAll#ImmigrationJustice#DueProcess#ImmigrantsGrowCommunities#ImmigrantsAreWelcomeHere#ImmigrantRightsAreHumanRights#ShutDownDetention
On April 21, the group The Shut Down Detention campaign posted on Instagram:
Bobbi, a local resident, reads the testimony of a woman detainee held in Moshannon Detention Center. Never committed a crime, waiting on a court date that might not come for months, and held in inhumane conditions.
The Clearfield County Commissioners signed a contract with ICE and the private prison corporation, GEO Group, to hold nearly 2,000 people for months in a “concentration camp” while they wait for months for immigration court to resolve paperwork.
Enough. Tell the commissioners do not renew their contract.
Tim Winters, twinters@clearfieldcountypa.gov
John Sobel, jsobel@clearfieldcountypa.gov
Dave Glass, dglass@clearfieldcountypa.govCommissioners Meetings at 10:30 am, 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month, Commissioners Conference Room, 212 E Locust Street, Clearfield, PA 16830
🎥 produced by @argieaspencer
#communitiesnotcages#shutdownmoshannon#shutdowndetention#freethemall
References:
Lashgari, V., & Donald, J. (2026, April 17). ‘Something is fundamentally wrong:’ Detainees start hunger strike at Pa. ICE facility. PennLive. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2026/04/after-ice-detainees-in-pa-went-on-a-hunger-strike-officials-put-them-in-solitary-confinement.html (archived here).
Lashgari, V. (2026, April 22). After ICE detainees in Pa. went on a hunger strike, officials put them in solitary confinement. PennLive. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2026/04/after-ice-detainees-in-pa-went-on-a-hunger-strike-officials-put-them-in-solitary-confinement.html (archived here).
WJAC. (2026, April 19). Report: Nearly 100 detainees at Clearfield Co. ICE facility launch hunger strike. WJAC. https://wjactv.com/news/local/nearly-100-detainees-at-clearfield-co-ice-facility-launch-hunger-strike (archived here).
Posted: 23 April 2026
Header Photo: A billboard protesting Moshannon Valley Processing Center sits outside the entrance of the ICE facility in Clearfield County. Joshua Vaughn/PennLive
