ICE Has Quietly Expanded in Pittsburgh, Acquiring Second Office for Operations

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.

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.

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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.

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