There have been reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have removed undocumented immigrants from Williamsport and surrounding areas.

From images of people working on roofs being detained to stories of ICE agents tracking people’s movements when they leave for work or take children to school, information often comes from firsthand accounts.

To better understand data from the government provided by ICE in response to a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, Julie Yingling, a criminal justice professor at Lycoming College, delved into the numbers.

Yingling, who calls herself “the woman behind the spreadsheet,” said at the time she was approached about looking at the data she had been involved with other community groups to help current needs, some around immigration, but some not.

When she was given the opportunity to look over the spreadsheets supplied by the FOIA request, she took it.

By cross-referencing that with information she was given about someone known to have been detained and arrested by ICE, she was able to determine that certain ones on the list were already known.

“They had — from family, from witnesses, from the ICE interaction — (they) were aware that they had been deported,” Yingling said.

She was able to confirm that was in the data that ICE provided for the FOIA. Those, she highlighted in green.

The next level, which she highlighted in orange, contained details that didn’t quite match the information she had. Maybe a date wasn’t exactly right or the country they were from wasn’t known, so she was unable to fully confirm who they were.

From those two designations, she was able to identify that ICE had identified geographic areas and that the WPO general area was the Williamsport area.

“Once I knew that, then I went and just looked at, filtered and sorted for every other case from this area,” she explained.

Those she highlighted red. Those are the people who were arrested, detained and deported from that same geographic area, but had not been known about.

What she had discovered is that the WPO area encompasses 19 counties and that at that point 199 people had been taken from those counties. Further, she had determined that about a quarter of that amount, around 50, had been taken from just the Williamsport area.

The Sun-Gazette has since learned that number is higher, although the exact figure is not known.

“So it makes sense now that we have confirmation, because we were always asking, (although) none of us reached out to ICE.. We just assumed they wouldn’t tell us, but we were trying to figure out what that geographic region is. And then someone else, quite easily found it,” she said.

The data reveals that most of the detainees from the WPO area were taken from what is designated as a “general area, non-specific.” Other areas in the state have detainees taken from prisons or had been arrested. The WPO detainees do not seem to have that attached to their records, which aligns with the information that Yingling was given that these people had no criminal background, even though ICE’s information seemed to indicate otherwise.

“In this data, it says something, and so that is suspicious. We know they (ICE) don’t follow the law, and they can do whatever they want, and there’s no accountability. So that to me, just kind of goes along with that. Of course, they put something in there to make it seem like these people are criminals,” Yingling contended.

Firsthand accounts from the community seem to indicate a pattern that ICE agents utilize to detain people.

“It seems, from what I’ve been hearing from community members, that it’s very rarely here that they’re taken from home, that what they’ll do is they’ll grab people at work, because we’ve had a few roofing companies where they grab people at their workplace…They seem to have a list of people. They seem to know who they want. And then they will kind of wait and watch their home and kind of get a sense of their schedule. And they know enough that they don’t have the warrant to enter the home or to try to and they’re not even trying, which is surprising here, because we know other places they are, and then they will, kind of follow them until they leave for work, follow them and then stop them, pull them over, and then take them there,” she said.

The data revealed that the people being taken are from a variety of countries and not all from South America, which is pretty much the stereotype that people have about deportees. There are people from New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland on the list and the numbers overall have ramped up since the beginning of the year.

To put this in perspective, in 2024, there were 69 people detained and deported from the 19-county area. In 2023, there were just five people.

Also, the information Yingling has analyzed seems to show that no minors were taken.

“I don’t know if any of these were minors. I don’t think so. From a little bit I’ve heard from, again, from other community members, I don’t think any of them are minors,” she said.

“I know some of them, whether they’re a single parent or they’re working parents, they have had kids…the remaining family is left in a tough spot,” Yingling said.

The situation has left children who are afraid to go to school and parents who are nervous about being seen taking them.

“I know we have a local accompaniment group that will. I know there have been a couple on the first day of school at the start of the school year parents were nervous, and so there were, I think, a few first days of school accompaniments,” she said.

It’s also created a fear of being seen doing anything outside of their homes, such as grocery shopping.

“I know the food pantries in town are tapped, and I know there’s been a number of people who’ve been delivering groceries. A few churches I know have had volunteers running groceries, but a lot of people are terrified, and they don’t know if they can trust the people leading the food pantries to not turn them in, or they’re just scared because ICE does watch outside their homes, and so they’re just scared to do anything,” she said.

For those who just want to do something to help there is also the fear that they too could be arrested.

“That’s seems like in this town, that’s not as likely, but yeah, that is a huge risk, and that’s what people who are helping are aware, that they could be arrested, they could face repercussions, but they’re concerned about — the same with me — they’re concerned about my community, and whether or not people do have criminal records, whether or not anyone cares about immigrants, they’re being denied due process,” Yingling said.

“You can not want them here, but also, (if) they were arrested, they should be given due process. I think people are just frustrated that they’re just being disappeared and left behind (are) distraught families not even knowing where they are, what facility they’re in, what country they’re going to get deported to. Often they’re just trying to figure out where they are,” she said.

Although the data that Yingling has is available online, there is always the fear that it will disappear if the government chooses to change access to it.

“I’m curious if ICE will continue to share it, or if they’ll get a judge to approve them denying, their records, or if they will further, kind of make the data just confusing…where you can’t make sense of it to where it’s the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law, like release it, but not anyone can make any sense of it,” she said.

“We kind of pride ourselves (that) this is a really safe community, but you know, it’s not for a certain relation of people, and so their families might think they’re better off here, but, you know, with the rate of this, I don’t know. They’re not getting terrorized like they are in Chicago or in some of the different cities, but their presence is felt and they’re pretty equipped at snatching people,” she said.

When asked if she ever considers there might be risks in sharing the information she has acquired, Yingling admitted that it’s a “risk I’m going to take.”

“Worst case scenario, I get arrested, and that’s gonna be chaos for my life and my job,” she said.

“But to me, it’s worth it. I mean, I’ve got an immense amount of privilege, and so it’s a risk I’m willing to take just to protect the most vulnerable people in our community,” she continued.

“I value them and respect them and so I’m happy to have a little bit of risk just to do a little bit of help for them. Yeah, I definitely worry about it, but not enough to toe the line, I guess,” she added.