Community members gathered on Wednesday evening at the Allen Street Gates in downtown State College to mark National Constitution Day with a silent vigil and demonstration calling on Gov. Josh Shapiro to take action to end Pennsylvania’s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The event, organized by the Centre County Rapid Response Network (CCRRN) in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC), Keystone Indivisible, and the Coalition for Peace and Understanding (CPAU), was one of several coordinated across the state. Together, the groups are pressing for changes they say are needed to protect immigrant rights and uphold democratic values.
For the first 15 minutes of Wednesday’s event in Sate College, protestors stood in silence, some holding signs and others with their hands bound by zip ties, as a gesture symbolizing immigrants detained or deported from Centre County and across Pennsylvania.
“We remember our neighbors, documented and undocumented,” one organizer said. “We are asking our community to stop looking away.”
Kate Heinzel, a local pastor and core team member of CCRRN, said the vigil was meant both as remembrance and as a demand for policy change.
“We’re working in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition today that is putting out a call on Constitution Day for Governor Shapiro to protect the rights of all members of our community, everyone who lives here in Pennsylvania, regardless of documentation,” Heinzel said. “We want the state not to collaborate with ICE, whether it be state police or state prisons. That means not sharing databases and other information. So we’re here to put pressure on Governor Shapiro to keep our state welcoming to all people.”
Organizers outlined a list of administrative actions they are urging Shapiro to take. These include:
- Ending ICE access to state databases.
- Prohibiting collaboration between the Department of Corrections and ICE.
Strengthening restrictions on state police involvement with ICE. - Protecting information from public benefit programs from being shared with ICE.
- Prohibiting immigration enforcement arrests in state facilities.
- Ensuring state facilities are never leased to ICE.
- Allowing state departments to publicly support the “Driver’s Licenses for All” campaign (House Bill 1518).
- Issuing public statements and resources to affirm immigrants’ rights and connect communities with available health care and social programs.
Advocates said these steps are not only about protecting immigrant communities, but also about ensuring that Pennsylvania reflects constitutional values of fairness and equality.
The vigil was held one month after ICE arrested two dozen men on local highways in the largest targeted enforcement operation in Centre County since the start of the second Trump administration. The men were on their way to work at a Mount Nittany Medical Center construction project when they were pulled over and taken into custody.
State police were not involved in the operation, the agency said at the time. State troopers stopped to find out what was occurring, but left after being informed of the situation.
Since March of this year, local immigrant rights advocates have noted an uptick in ICE activity in Centre County, which has heightened fears among both immigrant and U.S.-born residents. CCRRN leaders said Wednesday’s vigil was meant to stand in solidarity with those affected.
The State College demonstration was part of a broader “Statewide Day of Action” coordinated by PIC, with similar events held in cities and towns across Pennsylvania. Organizers said the timing on National Constitution Day was intentional, meant to highlight what they see as the urgent need to safeguard constitutional rights for all residents, regardless of immigration status.
The vigil ended quietly, with participants dispersing after 30 minutes, but organizers said their work will continue until substantive policy changes are made.
