FORTY FORT — A group of activists on Tuesday announced the formation of a new immigrant rights coalition for the region following two recent workplace raids — in Exeter and Honesdale — by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that resulted in the detention of seven people suspected to be in the country illegally.
The group, which included several people representing the Democratic Socialists of America, held a news conference outside the headquarters of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority headquarters prior to the authority’s monthly meeting.
Members of the group have been at odds with the authority over its decision to approve a lease to allow the federal Department of Homeland Security to share office space with the authority at the county-owned Forty Fort building.
The group displayed photos of the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
“These folks are working in our restaurants, working in our factories, working in lawn care. They are part of our community. They are hard-working folks — as exemplified in these two raids,” said Frankie Malacaria, an organizer with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Democratic Socialists of America. “They were raids at workplaces as opposed to violent criminals, drug traffickers, and human traffickers like the Department of Homeland Security says they are going after.”
Activists held a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Michael Nicotera, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, attents a Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting with a grahic of the intended use of space for the Department of Homeland Security in the LCFPA building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Michael Nicotera, a member of the Democratic Socailists of America, gestures to a grahic of the intended use of space for the Department of Homeland Security in the LCFPA building during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Rafed Aljobury, a member of the Integrity Political Action Committee, speaks during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Frankie Malacaria speaks during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A shirt reading, ‘No Human is Illegal’ that many attendees wore during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Committee members of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority hold a meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Activists attend a Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Nina Ancharski, a member of NEPA stands up, speaks during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Michael Nicotera, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, points to photos of ICE raids in Luzerne and Wayne counties during a press conference announcing a new immigrants rights coalition in Luzerne County outside the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority meeting on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The working name of the group is “Northeastern Pennsylvania Immigrant Rights Coalition.”
Malacaria said the group held the news conference because they are not allowed to speak at authority meetings about the ICE lease when the matter isn’t on the agenda and it wasn’t Tuesday.
About five members of the group — some wearing shirts that read “No human is illegal” — attended the meeting. After the authority adjourned the meeting, several people complained they were not allowed to speak.
Michael Nicotera of Rice Twp., a college student representing the Democratic Socialists of America, held a sign during the meeting of what he said are design plans for the Homeland Security offices. He said he obtained the plans from the authority’s bid package requirements that were posted online.
The blueprints, which he held during the news conference as well, show at least two “prisoner restraint stools” equipped with shackles, which he said contradicts comments by the authority members that claimed the office space would strictly be used for administrative purposes.
“It clearly shows Homeland Security intends to hold detainees on premises,” Nicotera said.
ICE under the administration of President Donald Trump is violating the rights of immigrants and the flood protection authority is complicit, Nicotera claimed.
“That building right there, that authority, is directly enabling these people,” Nicotera said.
ICE is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security and is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, which includes deporting immigrants who are not authorized to be in the U.S. The authority is responsible for maintaining the 16-mile Wyoming Valley Levee System along the Susquehanna River and has an office complex off Wyoming Avenue in Forty Fort.
In October 2024, while Joe Biden was president and before Trump was elected, the authority voted to lease 1,929 square feet of space to ICE for $28,935 in total annual rent for the first year. Homeland Security is relocating some office space from its Scranton location.
Christopher Belleman, executive director of the flood protection authority, said he did not get a good look at the sign Nicotera was holding which included a blown-up photo of the purported restraint stool. He previously insisted the ICE offices would not have a “holding cell” and would not be used for “overnight detention.”
“I have no idea where they got that floor plan at, so I don’t know if it’s accurate,” Belleman said when contacted after the meeting. “But there is no holding cell. It’s not a prison.”