Lycoming County residents have formed a network to support their immigrant neighbors amid rising concerns over the Trump administration's mass deportations.
One group provides rides and accompanies families on errands and to appointments, while the other operates a 24-hour phone number for local reports of ICE activity. Both organizations aim to observe and document local interactions with ICE, and follow up as needed.
The groups, which have about 50 volunteers, formed in response to anxiety among Lycoming County’s relatively small immigrant community, 1.3%, according to U.S. Census data.
There were several arrests of workers from a local roofing company over the summer and fall, and everyday tasks — from grocery shopping to medical appointments — have become more difficult for families who fear potential encounters with authorities, volunteers told Spotlight PA.
Organizers stress that neither network interferes with law enforcement, saying they offer support only to help residents feel less alone.
“If ICE is going to pick someone up, we can’t do anything to stop it,” City Alliance Church Pastor Nithin Thompson told Spotlight PA. “But what we can do is, we can witness it. We can document it, and we can share our stories with other people.”
One group typically arranges rides and errands in advance, matching volunteers based on schedules and needs. The goal, Thompson said, is for nothing to happen.
“Boring is the win,” he added.
The other group, in charge of rapid response, manages a 24-hour phone number — 570-212-9183 — so the public can report ICE activity in real time.
The groups coordinate through word of mouth, social media, and group chats.
Volunteers said that their presence in the community doesn’t guarantee anything, but even small acts, like walking someone to the bus stop, can reduce stress for people who might otherwise avoid leaving home. And in the event of an encounter with ICE or arrest, volunteers document the situation and follow up with the person’s loved ones and possibly that individual’s legal team.
For Phoebe Wagner, a rapid response volunteer, the work comes down to loving their neighbor and helping ensure everyone feels safe.
“No one should be living in fear and feel like they have to black out their windows,” Wagner told Spotlight PA.
Most local trips where a volunteer accompanies an immigrant have been uneventful, said Amanda, an organizer who asked to be identified only by her first name. But the group has also heard from community members who didn’t know the network existed, traveled to appointments outside the area, and were detained.
Another aspect of the group’s work, she added, comes after a detention. Volunteers have helped with tasks like locating the detained person’s car and gathering their personal items.
According to an analysis by Julie Yingling, a Lycoming College criminal justice and criminology professor, from January 2025 through July 29, 2025, ICE arrested 199 people in Lycoming and 18 surrounding rural counties.
She examined information — obtained by the Deportation Data Project through public records requests — and used limited details from Thrive International Programs, an organization that provides immigration legal services, to help her identify some clients among those arrested and deported.
Yingling told Spotlight PA that tracking ICE arrests is difficult because of limited data, and because local cases rarely make the news. And the affected families — who may be left searching for a loved one or suddenly without a working household member to help pay bills — are often afraid to speak publicly.
“The humanity of it gets me,” she said.