Immigrant at Moshannon Valley Processing Center fights for hearing

Alvarez has not been charged with any crime while in the U.S.

An immigrant from El Salvador, who is being housed in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, is fighting for a bond hearing that would allow him to be freed until his future is decided by an immigration court in Elizabeth, N.J.

Attorney Robert K. Lacey of Fairfax, Va., this week sought intervention from a district court judge in western Pennsylvania that would allow Edgar Guevara Alvarez to seek a bond hearing while he is being considered for removal by the Immigration Court.

However, the petition, filed in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown, is being opposed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which contends that Alvarez is subject to mandatory detention.

One of the requests by Alvarez in his petition before the court was that a temporary restraining order be put in place that would prevent ICE from removing him to another facility, or from the United States, until his removal case is decided.

District Judge Arthur J. Schwab on Thursday denied the sought-after restraining order.

The judge stated in his opinion that he lacks jurisdiction to prevent ICE from moving the petitioner.

"Congress has vested the Secretary of Homeland Security (Markwayne Mullin) and his delegates (like ICE) to detain aliens pending a decision on the removal proceedings," according to the Schwab opinion.

And he added, "Congress has invested the Department of Homeland Security with the discretion to set the place of detention."

Within that discretion is the power to transfer aliens from one detention center to another, Schwab concluded.

Addressing Alvarez's contention that he will suffer "irreparable harm" if he is transferred to another facility, the judge noted Alvarez did not specifically indicate what that harm would be.

Alvarez also asked that a court injunction be issued preventing his removal from the United States, Schwab indicated that there is nothing to indicate at this point that he is subject to removal.

The order also explained that Alvarez is seeking prompt review of his quest for a bond hearing.

The heart of the argument presented on behalf of Alvarez stems from a decision made last Sept. 5 by the Board of Immigration Appeals that reinterpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Prior to last September, noncitizens like Alvarez, who lived in the United States and were eventually apprehended by ICE, were eligible to seek bond hearings.

The Sept. 5 opinion reversed 30 years of precedent and indicated those individuals are now subject to mandatory detention and have no opportunity for bond while removal proceedings are pending, according to the Alvarez petition filed on Tuesday.

This new interpretation of immigration law violates "the plain language of the Immigration and Nationality Act and its implementing regulations," the Alvarez petition claims.

According to his petition, Alvarez entered the United States in 2025, has lived here more than a year and has not been charged with any crime.

Persons detained under such circumstances are generally entitled to a bond hearing -- unless they have been arrested, charged or convicted of certain crimes, the petition stated.

In July 2025, ICE began to assert that those who entered the country "without inspection," like Alvarez, should be subject to mandatory detention, and the BIA opinion of Sept. 5 confirmed the ICE reinterpretation.

Courts across the country, including the District Court in Johnstown, "have rejected this interpretation," according to the petition filed on Alvarez's behalf.

It charges that Alvarez:

-- is entitled to a bond hearing

-- that his continued detention is a violation of bond regulations.

-- that his continued detention violates the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution -- the right to due process.

The petition seeks an expedited hearing, a declaration that his ongoing detention is unlawful and seeks issuance of order releasing him on own recognizance, or provide him with a bond hearing.