Citing $115,000 in unpaid rent, Lehigh County evicts ICE from Allentown office space

Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel announced that his administration will be terminating a lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after a county-led inquiry found that an arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement owes the county more than $115,000 in unpaid rent after occupying county-owned office space for approximately 38 months.

“I am immediately terminating our lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They should consider themselves evicted,” Siegel said Tuesday in a statement. “The department’s failure to pay rent, combined with DHS’s national reputation for recklessness, chaos, and public disorder, warrants ending any relationship with the County. We will not accept their blood money.”

Siegel, who took office earlier this month, said the county will take “all necessary steps to enforce the lease termination and protect the interests of Lehigh County residents.”

Siegel’s announcement came after Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley sent a letter to Siegel and the county’s board of commissioners on Tuesday revealing that the Department of Homeland Security reportedly owes the county $115,425.51 in uncollected revenue.

The memo recommended that the county issue an immediate payment determination of outstanding rent, issue an eviction notice and explore all legal avenues of recouping lost revenue. 

Pinsley’s memo said that the county entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations for office space at the county’s Hamilton Financial Center building in Allentown in November 2022. With the MOA approved by the county board of commissioners, DHS was able to occupy the county-owned office space. 

Per the memo, the term of the MOA was 10 months, beginning Dec. 1, 2022, and ending Sept. 30, 2023. However, DHS later determined that the individual who signed the MOA on their behalf lacked the authority to do so.

After that, a standard lease agreement began on Oct. 1, 2023 and runs through Sept. 30, 2026; Pinsley noted that because both parties never agreed to the terms of that subsequent lease agreement, the county has yet to receive payment from HSI, a law enforcement arm within ICE.

“While the MOA was agreed to, both parties have not agreed to the terms of a lease agreement which is still pending to date,” Pinsley wrote. “As such, no payment has been made by HSI to the county since the commencement of the MOA and lease agreement on December 1, 2022.”

Pinsley – who described the scenario to City & State as a “calamity of errors” – wrote in the memo that HSI intended to pay the county once the terms of the lease were agreed to.

“This organization’s actions terrorize neighborhoods and create fear rather than safety. Conduct of this kind is incompatible with democratic governance,” Pinsley, who is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, wrote. “I think the county should be unequivocal and tell ICE: Pay your bills, pack your stuff, and get out!”

City & State has reached out to ICE for comment.

The termination of the lease agreement comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has mobilized ICE officers to cities across the nation as part of a crackdown on immigration. Tensions between Democrats and Republicans over Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts have escalated in recent weeks following the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who was shot and killed by an ICE officer during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Siegel added in a statement Tuesday that Lehigh County “will not be complicit in actions that undermine constitutional principles or weaken community confidence.”

“Let’s be clear: Public safety relies on the public’s trust in local law enforcement – the appearance of collaboration with ICE/DHS means victims of trafficking, drugs and violent crime will be less likely to come forward,” he said. “The only way to ensure that local residents continue to trust us is to wash away the stain of DHS’s presence in our buildings. That is (the) fault of this administration in D.C. that has made the public and our officers less safe.”