ICE has quietly expanded in Pittsburgh, acquiring second office for operations

PITTSBURGH — Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been quietly expanding its presence in the Pittsburgh area after leasing space in a five-story office in the western suburbs late last year.

For months, the federal government worked in lockstep to keep the expansion under the radar as the Post-Gazette checked records and requested documents to determine the plans for ICE’s new space in Findlay, Pennsylvania.

Every federal agency asked about the Findlay property — which was leased in November for just under $600,000 in annual rent — declined to provide information about what it was being used for. Leasing documents obtained through a public records request were heavily redacted.

But the PG recently learned that federal officials told Allegheny County earlier this year that ICE is using the office specifically for the agency’s attorneys, although it remains unclear exactly what the expansion means for immigration enforcement in the region, according to a county official not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

A request for more information from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, was declined, citing safety concerns.

“ICE will not confirm office locations as our officers are facing a coordinated campaign of violence against them including an 8,000% increase in death threats against them and a 1,300% increase in assaults against them,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

“Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space?” the statement continued. “Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country. That’s a 120% increase in our workforce.”

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, whose district includes the new building that ICE has been leasing space in, criticized the federal agency for its furtive expansion in the Pittsburgh region.

“ICE should be open with the American people about how they are using the public’s money — especially in our backyard,” he said. “They should stop sneaking around and tell Western Pennsylvanians what they are doing in Findlay Township. This is about transparency and fiscal responsibility.”

The Post-Gazette obtained the lease for the Park Place One Corporate Center property through a public records request, but the copy released was so heavily redacted that nothing could be discerned from it.

The location is being leased through late 2030 by the U.S. General Services Administration, which provides support for federal agencies, including real estate services.

Information about ICE’s Pittsburgh field office on the South Side is prominently displayed on the agency’s website — including its address, phone number and appointment hours. That office has drawn regular demonstrations as protesters meet outside to march against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement activities.

Until October, the GSA listed locations for approximately 30 properties it was leasing for federal partners across Allegheny County in monthly reports that the agency releases on its leased properties nationwide.

That included the location for ICE’s South Side field office, which has become an emerging regional deportation hub amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Last year, DHS asked GSA to disregard the usual leasing procedures and hide listings for new ICE office space due to “national security concerns,” according to a report on the agency’s expansion plans published in September by Wired magazine.

Beginning in December — after the agency leased the new Allegheny County property not far from Pittsburgh International Airport — each monthly report has omitted the Findlay address and the location of the South Side field office, although the field office address remains publicly available online.

In February, the PG asked GSA about the lease at Park Place Corporate Center One. A GSA spokesperson declined to answer questions about what agency was operating out of the building or what it was being used for.

“GSA is committed to working with all of our partner agencies to meet their workspace needs,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “GSA remains focused on supporting this administration’s goal of optimizing the federal footprint, and providing the best workplaces for our federal agencies to meet their mission.”

The copy of the lease for the property that the PG obtained from the GSA was heavily redacted to block out basic information, including the address and rental amount, which is publicly available elsewhere on the GSA website.

Information regarding the lessor and lessee also was redacted.

In a response accompanying the released document, the GSA said its redactions were made because of exemptions to public records law that allows agencies to withhold information deemed privileged or confidential trade secrets, an “unwarranted invasion of privacy,” and information that “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”

The PG has filed an appeal, requesting that the agency elaborate on the justification for the redactions.

ICE’s office expansion in the Pittsburgh area appears to be part of a larger expansion effort by the agency nationally.

The federal government began renting the Findlay property two months after the GSA had posted a competitive leasing proposal seeking “administrative office spaces in support of law enforcement operations” in 20 cities, including Pittsburgh; Columbus, Ohio; Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; and St. Louis.

In recent months, new DHS leases have been reported in numerous locations. In Berwyn, Chester County, the Department of Homeland Security began leasing a building at an upscale office park, WHYY reported in February.

In Milwaukee, the federal government is paying $880,000 annually to rent a new building for ICE, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported recently.

As ICE expands its presence in the region, the number of people detained at the agency’s South Side field office also has grown.

In November, more people were detained by ICE in Pittsburgh than any other month during Donald Trump’s second presidency with more than 170 detained on the South Side, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. The data excludes April and the latter portion of March.

In October, 122 were detained, and, in September, 100 were held at the Pittsburgh field office.