Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon says ICE detainees are treated like ‘federal prisoners’ at Philadelphia detention center

From two-bunk cells furnished only with a sink and toilet to standardized prison uniforms, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Delaware, told WHYY News that she witnessed the “striking” realities of immigration enforcement detainees at Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center during a congressional oversight visit Thursday.

“It was made clear every step of the way that the detainees in ICE custody are treated the same as federal prisoners,” Scanlon said, noting that most people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t have a criminal record.

“It’s as though you get pulled over for a traffic violation and you get sent to prison — before anyone adjudicates your case or anything else,” she said, alleging people are “having difficulty” obtaining legal, medical and translation services.

The Philadelphia ICE Field Office did not immediately respond to WHYY News’ request for comment.

Scanlon’s visit comes less than a month after Parady La, an Upper Darby resident and one of her constituents, died while in ICE custody after being detained and held at FDC Philadelphia.

“As with his family and the press and our office, we’ve been trying to get more information about the circumstances of his death, particularly as nationwide, we’re seeing a surge of deaths of people who are being detained by ICE,” Scanlon said.

Advocacy group Shut Down Detention said in a statement following La’s death that ICE detainees at FDC Philadelphia “have reported difficulties in receiving their medication for known medical conditions and how food and water are not given on a regular schedule.”

Parady La is the fourth person to die while in ICE custody at a Pennsylvania detention center since December 2023. According to ICE, 32 people died in the agency’s custody in 2025, making it the deadliest year since 2004.

In its statement on La’s death, ICE said it provides “comprehensive medical care” to detainees, and is “committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”

Scanlon denounces ‘lawless’ DHS, ICE: ‘The slope is no longer slippery here’

Scanlon said Federal Bureau of Prisons personnel and some ICE personnel were on hand for the visit. ICE detainees are held in a portion of the jail separate from the prison population, she said. Prison personnel told Scanlon that no ICE detainees wanted to speak with her, she said.

President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown has been the source of widespread angst and frustration in his second term in office. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer fatally shot nurse Alex Pretti, 37, on Saturday as he was observing an immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis. Several weeks earlier, an ICE agent killed Renee Good, 37, also in Minneapolis.

“Today, it’s an immigrant being wrestled to the ground and tomorrow it’s an American being shot,” Scanlon said. “The slope is no longer slippery here. The lawless behavior we’re seeing from DHS and ICE and the lack of brakes upon it should really be concerning to everyone. And I worry that if it just seems like it’s happening to someone who’s ‘the other’ that people don’t understand that it could happen to them.”

After Chaofeng Ge, a Chinese national, died while in ICE custody at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in August 2025, Scanlon attempted to conduct a congressional oversight visit at the GEO Group-operated facility and was denied entry.

Conditions at Moshannon “are supposed to be worse by all the reporting we’ve got,” she said, noting that her office checks in with immigration and civil rights advocates about what’s happening to ICE detainees.

“They are being railroaded in so many cases, right out of the country, even if they have valid claims to stay,” Scanlon said.

As the U.S. Senate debates funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees CBP and ICE, Scanlon said the department is in need of “real guardrails and a fundamental restructuring.”

“I think it’s really important that DHS not get another dime until there are really substantial and radical changes to how it’s operating,” Scanlon said.

Number of ICE detainees held at FDC Philadelphia soared in 2025

The Center City jail, operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, began holding ICE detainees in February 2025.

The number of ICE detainees held there has increased exponentially since then, per the most recent data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group that compiles immigration detention data via public records requests.

As of Nov. 28, 2025, there were on average 94 ICE detainees held at FDC Philadelphia each day. The maximum number of beds dedicated to ICE detainees is 125.

“It sounds like they’ve been running 60 to 80 [people] most nights,” Scanlon said.

WHYY News has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the average daily population for immigrant detainees at FDC Philadelphia, and has not yet received a response.

FDC Philadelphia is among a number of existing or newly constructed jails and detention centers that the Trump administration used last year to double immigrant detention space across the country.