State College police were not involved in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation on Saturday morning that resulted in one arrest at a local construction site, borough officials said.
Video posted to social media by three local immigrant rights groups showed multiple federal agents interacting with two men seated outside an apartment building under renovation near the corner of South Allen Street and Easterly Parkway. According to the post, one of the men was taken into custody and a short time later a witness found the agents in the State College Municipal Building parking lot, where the groups claimed the agents “re-grouped at the State College Police Department for protection and assistance.”
In a statement provided to StateCollege.com, the borough said it was aware of the operation but denied any involvement by the police department or other municipal employees.
“Following the arrest, ICE agents stopped in the Municipal Building’s parking lot. The Borough of State College, which includes the State College Police Department, was not involved in the operation,” according to the statement.
The borough referred questions to ICE, which did not respond to a request for comment
In the video posted by the People’s Defense Front, Centre County Rapid Response and Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity, the person filming shouts “ICE is here” while approaching an agent in a pickup truck in the municipal building parking lot. Before driving away, the agent appears to quickly motion toward the driver’s side window, though it is unclear in the video what he was doing, and the witness says “he just threatened me.”
State College police previously denied involvement in an ICE operation in March, when agents detained a man near the intersection of East College Avenue and Houserville Road. The same groups alleged that a witness reported observing a borough police vehicle at the secene.
Borough police have maintained a policy of not taking an active role in immigration enforcement for at least a decade. Former State College Police Chief John Gardner, who retired at the end of 2025, said on multiple occasions that complies with warrants and judicial orders, and assists outside law enforcement in criminal investigations, but that immigration enforcement is typically a civil administrative matter that is the responsibility of federal agencies.
State College Borough Council is expected to discuss at its meeting on Monday an ordinance that could potentially codify the policy of not participating in or providing resources for immigration enforcement without a judicial order for all borough departments.
A resolution introduced in February calling for “timely and meaningful reform” of ICE was tabled after several council members expressed concerns that it could bring unwanted attention and harm to the people it meant to support, particularly without substantive action to support it.
