ICE has made 17 arrests in Glassport, police chief says

The chief of the Glassport Borough Police Department in Allegheny County said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made 17 arrests in the borough over the last two weeks. 

Witnesses sent pictures to KDKA-TV showing ICE agents as they surrounded a building at the corner of Ohio Avenue and Sixth Street moments before those witnesses said several people were escorted out in handcuffs.

"It was like something on TV that you wouldn't normally see in town here. It's sort of unusual because it never happened before," said James Richel, who witnessed the ICE arrests.

Another witness said he saw an arrest happen near the Sunoco gas station along Monongahela Avenue.

"They had a work van pulled over. Glassport PD pulled them over, and then I seen ICE agents pretty much cuffing people and pulling them out," said James Garish, who works at a nearby convenience store.

Glassport Police Chief Shawn DeVerse released a statement to KDKA-TV in response to ICE's presence in the community, saying, in part, that it is not part of the 287(g) Program, which allows state and local agencies to act as immigration enforcement agents.

"We recognize that ICE is a federal law enforcement agency, and as such, we would provide the same assist or support that we would provide any agency operating within our community, when needed, just as they would extend the same cooperation to us," DeVerse said. 

The police chief added that no ICE arrest in Glassport has led to any violence. 

KDKA has reached out to ICE but has not heard back by Wednesday evening.