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Immigration

Rural Emergency Care Is Struggling to Keep Up With ICE Detention Demand

Records of hundreds of 911 calls illustrate the weight of immigration detention on emergency services.

Emergency ambulance seen from windshield of car.

The Moshannon Valley EMS, a nonprofit in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, is one of many rural emergency services across the country dealing with an increase in detained immigrants. Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

By Jackie Llanos

June 24, 2026 05:50 a.m.

PHILIPSBURG, Pennsylvania — Emergency responders sped out of a Pennsylvania immigrant detention center on a recent Saturday morning, sirens blaring as they drove past more than 20 protesters demanding the lockup’s closure.

It was the Moshannon Valley EMS crew’s second run to the Geo Group-owned site that day.

The number of detained immigrants the crew serves has grown by 44% since President Donald Trump returned to office. The Moshannon Valley Processing Center now holds nearly 1,700 people, according to the Deportation Data Project — a population more than half the size of the town.