On Tuesday, as thousands across the state made their morning commutes, more than two dozen workers on their way to a construction site at Mount Nittany Hospital in Centre County, Pa., never showed up at the job.

Instead, they were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who, in collaboration with Pennsylvania State Police, pulled over and detained at least 26 men in two separate stops — one on Interstate 99 in Bellefonte and another on Route 220 near the Milesburg exit, according to the Centre County Rapid Response Network, which tracks ICE activity.

Video of the arrests shows officers in ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations uniforms detaining the men alongside the highway.

At a press conference Thursday, John, a coworker of those arrested who did not provide his last name, said he picked up some of the men from a hotel and took them to a Sheetz to get coffee, which is how they usually started their day. As they neared the exit to Mount Nittany Hospital, lights flashed in his rearview mirror.

"A passenger van immediately pulled directly in front of us, and another silver Ford Expedition unmarked behind us," John said. "They took my ID, gave it back and proceeded to the other side to pull guys out one by one."

The ICE agents took each man's phone, asking where they were from and whether they had work permits — which the agents checked after they tied each of the men's arms behind their backs, he said. Afterward, the men were whisked away in unmarked vehicles.

Such incidents have become increasingly common across Western Pennsylvania as the federal government continues its aggressive deportation campaign.

Since President Donald Trump took office, ICE had taken at least 583 people in the region into custody through the end of July — nearly triple the number of arrests the agency made during the same time period last year, according to federal data analyzed by the Post-Gazette.

More than half of those taken into custody had no criminal record.

The trend mirrors ICE's activity statewide. Throughout Pennsylvania, ICE has arrested more than 3,250 people — also three times the number detained during the same period last year.

Arrests at Monroeville gun show

In the Pittsburgh region, immigration-related arrests this year have mainly taken place during restaurant raids and traffic stops as the agency collaborates with local law enforcement.

The surge in ICE activity comes after Trump promised the "largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America" during the presidential campaign last year. In April, the White House said the president was living up to his promise, ushering in an "unprecedented era of homeland security."

A massive domestic policy bill passed by Congress in July includes $170 billion to boost the immigration crackdown, with some of that money expected to flow in Pennsylvania to pay for local law enforcement efforts to partner with ICE.

Across Western Pennsylvania, an increasing number of local agencies have been helping in the federal government's deportation push.

Last Sunday, several people were arrested by ICE after they were detained by police outside the Pittsburgh Gun Show at the Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville Police Chief Kenneth Cole said.

Cole declined to specify the number of arrests, but said officers had been trying to prevent straw purchases — one person illegally buying a gun on behalf of another — at the show when they found people without the proper immigration or citizenship documentation.

"When we come across people that are illegal-undocumented, there's nothing in our policies or procedures that prevents us from contacting the federal government," Cole said.

Cole said Monroeville police did not file criminal charges against those arrested by ICE, but added that the investigation was ongoing.

The federal agency did not respond to questions about the arrests.

As a growing number of local police departments partner with ICE, immigrant advocates and legal experts have raised concerns about how the collaborations are playing out.

At a press conference earlier this month after the death of a detainee at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, the largest immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania and the Northeast, Erie attorney Alexandria Iwanenko said many ICE arrests in her area had come after traffic stops.

"Our local authorities are calling immigration or (Customs and Border Patrol) ... then what's happening is they're being transferred to CPB custody," Iwanenko said.

She said once those arrested are transferred to federal custody, they are taken to Erie County prison. Unlike Allegheny County, Erie County has contracts with both ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. Afterward, ICE detainees in Erie are transferred to Moshannon, where it becomes more difficult to communicate with clients, Iwanenko and other lawyers have said.

"There's due process concerns," she said.

Lawmakers weighing in

Late last month, at least 10 people were arrested during a joint law enforcement operation involving local police and ICE agents in Ambridge.

Although both ICE and local agencies were making arrests throughout the borough, Beaver County District Attorney Nathan Bible said the operation was "in no way an 'ICE raid.'"

Instead, he said authorities were conducting a "saturation operation" throughout Ambridge and neither he nor local law enforcement had any control of what ICE does once they arrest someone.

The relationship between local and federal agencies that night remains murky after an officer who identified himself as Sgt. Sokheng Seng with Ambridge Police indicated in a video posted to social media by nonprofit advocacy group Casa San Jose that the agencies were collaborating.

"If they ask us to help, we're doing our job," the officer said in the video.

Bible and ICE have not responded to repeated requests by the Post-Gazette for more information regarding the operation in Ambridge.

Others, including local lawmakers, have also been trying to get answers.

By early August, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, had spent weeks asking ICE's Office of Congressional Relations to answer questions related to the agency's activities in his district.

Deluzio followed up again with the agency on Aug. 2, but expressed frustration when he finally received a response, according to a follow-up letter from the representative.

"Your agency's absurd response was this — 'We're not tracking any information specific [to] non-routine operations in Robinson Township, PA; Carnegie, PA; or Ambridge, PA' — followed by a bunch of boilerplate language that had nothing to do with answering my office's questions about specific activity," Deluzio wrote.

"I'm sure you can understand what a ridiculous load of crap it is to tell a Congressman's office that you are not tracking any information about your own agency's operations that local law enforcement addressed publicly, and local media covered," he wrote.

Deluzio said he wanted additional information regarding the arrests in Ambridge by Aug. 15, although it is unclear whether the agency met that deadline.

"Ducking lawful oversight and hiding agency actions do not meet my standard, especially in this environment," he wrote.

He could not be reached for further comment on Friday.

Some local lawmakers, including state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, have voiced support for the federal government's deportation efforts, particularly those targeting individuals with criminal histories.

In March, Laughlin sponsored a Senate bill that would require the state to notify ICE if an undocumented immigrant violated the law.

"This is not about targeting migrants as a whole," Laughlin told his colleagues before the Senate voted on the bill. "Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of welcoming migrants who come here legally, contribute to our society, and abide by our laws."

Instead, he said the bill only affected those without documentation who "choose to disregard the laws and endanger the safety and well-being of our citizens."

The Senate approved the bill, 31-18, in March. It now is in the House.

Joint operations with other federal agencies

ICE not only has been working with local law enforcement agencies to continue making arrests. It has also collaborated with an array of other federal agencies to execute raids in restaurants, including at multiple businesses in the Pittsburgh area.

On Aug. 7, 16 employees from two Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant locations — in Cranberry and in Richland — were arrested.

The raid was a collaboration among at least seven federal agencies including Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Marshals Service, an ICE spokesperson wrote in a statement after the raid.

ICE did not respond to repeated requests for information about the role of the other agencies involved.

While it remains unclear what triggered the raids, a public agreement between ICE and the IRS was made official earlier this year. On April 7, the two agencies finalized a memorandum of understanding allowing the revenue agency to share taxpayer information to aid deportation efforts. The agreement also allows ICE to confirm the names, addresses and tax data for individuals facing deportation orders or federal criminal investigations.

It was a major shift for an agency that has long fostered a commitment to taxpayer privacy. Previously, the agency only shared information with law enforcement in specific cases.

One day after the new agreement was signed, Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause announced her resignation, reportedly in response to the agreement .

More collaboration agreements being signed

As collaborative ICE operations continue to surge throughout the region, more and more local agencies are signing up to join the federal government's deportation efforts.

At least 30 Pennsylvania agencies have joined the 287(g) program, which allows ICE to deputize local officers. In the Pittsburgh area, that includes the Robinson Township Police Department, as well as constable's offices in Monroeville and Sewickley.

As part of the program, ICE covers the cost of training officers while local governments pay for salaries, overtime and equipment.

County sheriffs' offices, including in Butler and Bucks counties, have also signed up for the program — decisions that drew scrutiny from civil rights advocates.

In June, the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Bucks County partnership because Sheriff Fred Harran did not get approval from county commissioners before signing the agreement.

That lawsuit remains ongoing.

In Butler County, the sheriff's partnership with ICE left local lawmakers at odds after County Commissioner Kevil Boozel, the lone Democrat on the commission, said Sheriff Michael Slupe had also failed to consult with commissioners before joining the program on June 12.

"I'm not on board at all," Boozel told the Post-Gazette at a commission meeting July 9. "It's a contract, and every contract has to be run through county commissioners."

While some agencies have made their partnership with ICE official through the 287(g) program, it is not required.

Police departments like Ambridge and Monroeville, which have not yet signed up for the program, are generally free to assist federal agencies as they see fit.

"We haven't signed up for anything with the federal government," Cole said. "Not that we wouldn't. We may very well in the future."

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