Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese man, was in detention at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center (MVPC) for immigrants in Philipsburg, PA, when he was found unresponsive in a shower stall. According to a report from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the MVPC Detention Officer found Ge with a cloth ligature around his neck and began CPR. All life-saving attempts were unsuccessful and he was declared dead by suicide on August 5, 2025 by the Clearfield County, PA coroner.
“There’s still so much left unknown about the circumstances of his death,” Yanfeng Ge, Chaofeng Ge’s brother, stated earlier this month. “There must be accountability for his death.”
According to Ge’s brother, his family has received no information from the federal government about his death, despite several requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The family has moved forward with a lawsuit against the government, which was filed in Manhattan on November 10. David B. Rankin, the family’s attorney, has claimed that according to an autopsy report, Ge was found hanging in MVPC with his hands and legs tied behind his back.
“And that’s part of why we’re looking into this,” Rankin said. “All we have is an autopsy that has some information but just has these huge questions that we need answers to.”
The Ge family’s attorney has stated that a private investigation reveals Ge was experiencing extreme distress before he passed away, and that nobody in the facility could verbally communicate with him due to language barriers.
Additionally, at a news conference organized by Rankin earlier this month, activists came out and claimed that former detainees at the same ICE facility as Ge have reported reprehensible living conditions. According to Adrianna Torres-García, a member of the Shut Down Detention Campaign, detainees have reported not being able to have regularly clean clothes and pillows.
There has been no official response from the Department of Homeland Security or ICE.
