Clearfield County commissioners introduced a new policy at Tuesday's meeting limiting public comment to residents and taxpayers of Clearfield County, saying critics of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center are taking up too much time during meetings.
The company GEO Group runs the Moshannon facility as an ICE detention center through a contract with Clearfield County. The site is the largest immigration detention center in the northeast and can hold about 1,800 people. The Moshannon Valley Processing Center has been the target of protests and calls for it to be shut down.
Several people from Allegheny, Jefferson, Forest and Centre counties tried to speak out against the ICE facility Tuesday, but were cut off because of the new public comment policy.
Sam Mosier, a Clearfield County resident, argued against the new policy.
"Just because they don't live in Clearfield County doesn't mean that their voices shouldn't be heard," Mosier said. "This is a regional issue. This is a state issue. This is a national issue."
Tim Winters, one of the commissioners, said they've already listened to people's complaints about the facility and has said they don’t have the power to close Moshannon.
“This has become a convenient soapbox to address federal immigration issues," Winters said.
Winters said they're interested in revisiting the public comment policy moving forward, but that he worries about "out-of-town activists upset with federal immigration policy."
