Rep. Summer Lee Demands Answers from ICE on Detention of Brentwood Asylum Seeker Maklim Gomez Escalante 

Full Letter Text 

  WASHINGTON, D.C. – FEBRUARY 12, 2026 — Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) sent a formal congressional inquiry to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanding answers regarding the detention of Maklim Gomez Escalante, an asylum seeker and constituent living in Brentwood, Pennsylvania. 

Gomez Escalante, who has a valid work permit and no criminal record, was detained in mid-January. He remains in federal custody following a recent hospitalization, raising additional concerns from his family regarding his health, access to follow-up medical care, and the basis for his continued detention. 

“I am deeply alarmed by the detention of Maklim Gomez Escalante, an asylum seeker and member of our community who followed the legal process, holds a valid work permit, and has no criminal record. When individuals who have done everything asked of them are detained without clear explanation, it sends a chilling message to immigrant families across our region that due process is being eroded. This case reflects a broader pattern of enforcement that is terrorizing communities and placing lawful asylum seekers directly in harm’s way. 

“That’s why I have sent a formal congressional inquiry demanding answers about the basis of his detention, the conditions of his confinement, and the status of his medical care following his recent hospitalization. His family and our community deserve transparency and accountability, and we will not be silent while our neighbors are taken and held without justification. We stand in solidarity with the Gomez Escalante family and with every immigrant neighbor living in fear of an agency that continues to operate with impunity, and I will keep using every tool available to defend the rights, dignity, and humanity of the people I represent.” 

Congresswoman Lee’s inquiry requests detailed information about the circumstances surrounding Gomez Escalante’s arrest, the legal justification for his detention, and the conditions of his confinement, including his medical evaluation and treatment while in ICE custody. 

In her letter, Congresswoman Lee demanded detailed responses from ICE, including answers to the following: 

1. How many people have been detained in Pennsylvania’s 12 Congressional District in January 20226? 
2. What is the status of those who were detained? 
3. What basis were they detained? 
4. Why were ICE agents not in uniform and not providing appropriate identification? 
5. Where is Mr. Gomez Escalante’s work permit that he presented to the ICE agents? 
6. Why do ICE facilities charge an exorbitant amount of fees to make outgoing calls?  
7. Why was Mr. Gomez Escalante denied contact with his wife after receiving medical care? 
8. Why has Mr. Gomez Escalante been constantly handcuffed to his bed? 
9. How many medical professionals are available in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center? 
10. What kind of continued medical care is Mr. Gomez Escalante currently receiving? 
11. Why have U.S House of Representatives been denied to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center? 

Rep. Lee has consistently used her platform and oversight authority to challenge ICE abuses and pursue accountability of DHS leadership.  

Most recently, Rep. Lee joined Pittsburgh community members and immigrant rights advocates at a “Pittsburgh Says: ICE Out!” demonstration calling for ICE to end its presence in the region. Standing alongside protestors, she condemned the agency’s enforcement tactics as harmful and destabilizing to local families and reiterated her call to abolish ICE altogether. 
 
Rep. Lee joined her colleagues in introducing articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, citing a pattern of civil rights violations, obstruction of congressional oversight, and failure to protect due process in ICE enforcement operations. The articles followed months of escalating concerns over DHS leadership and ICE conduct nationwide.  

Rep. Lee also introduced legislation alongside Reps. Delia C. Ramirez and Yvette D. Clarke to end ICE detention altogether and redirect funding toward community-based services, legal support, and humanitarian care. The legislation seeks to dismantle the detention pipeline and move federal resources away from incarceration and toward dignity-centered alternatives.  

As DHS funding negotiations intensified, Rep. Lee joined Pennsylvania House Democrats in urging Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick to oppose DHS appropriations that fail to include meaningful reforms.  

In October 2025, Rep. Lee led oversight efforts demanding answers from DHS after reports revealed ICE’s use of foreign spyware technology capable of covert surveillance. Alongside Reps. Shontel Brown and Yassamin Ansari, she pressed DHS to explain how such tools were deployed and what safeguards, if any, were in place to protect Americans’ privacy and constitutional rights.  

During an attempted oversight visit to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in August 2025, Rep. Lee and a Human Rights First advocate were denied entry despite credible allegations of abuse and the death of a detainee. The denial raised further concerns about transparency within ICE detention facilities and DHS’s resistance to congressional oversight.  

Rep. Lee, alongside Reps. Maxwell Frost and Delia C. Ramirez, introduced the Oversight Access Act. This legislation is designed to protect Members of Congress from violence and retaliation while conducting official oversight duties. The bill responds to increasing concerns about threats and physical assaults faced by lawmakers as they attempt to hold agencies like ICE and DHS accountable and aims to ensure that congressional oversight can proceed safely and without interference.  

Rep. Lee, serving as a Ranking Member, also joined Rep. Robert Garcia in demanding DHS explain ICE’s use of masks and unmarked vehicles during enforcement operations. She warned that these tactics terrorize communities, undermine public trust, and blur the line between lawful enforcement and intimidation.    

Rep. Lee has also publicly condemned ICE raids carried out in Los Angeles under the Trump administration, calling them an abuse of power that ripped families apart and spread fear throughout immigrant communities. She emphasized that enforcement tactics rooted in punishment rather than humanity only deepen harm and instability. 

Full text of the congressional inquiry is available below: 

February 11, 2026 

Todd M. Lyons 

Acting Director 

U.S Immigration and Custom Enforcement 

500 12th St SW 

Washington, DC 20536 

Dear Acting Director Lyons: 

On January 20th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents illegally detained Maklim Gomez Escalante, a resident of Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District at his scheduled court appearance at the Magisterial District Court in Baldwin. According to local reports, Mr. Gomez Escalante’s wife did not hear from her husband for hours and by 8pm discovered that he was located at the Northern Regional Correctional Facility in Marshall County, West Virginia, followed by a transfer to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County the next day.1 

Mr. Gomez Escalante is a 35-year-old resident of Brentwood, Pennsylvania. In 2021, he emigrated with his family from El Salvador to seek asylum through the legal process. He and his family have Social Security numbers and have valid work permits that do not expire until 2030.  

The four ICE agents who detained him were not in uniform and upon Mr. Gomez Escalante presenting his work permit, they snapped it in half and threw it away. Mr. Gomez Escalante does not have a criminal record nor pending charges. On February 2nd, his wife learned from a fellow inmate that he had been taken to the hospital after having stroke-like symptoms. He has since been returned to Moshannon Valley Processing Center and is experiencing partial facial paralysis. 

I have questions about this specific detainment and ICE activities. I request responses to the following questions by February 17, 2026. 

1. How many people have been detained in Pennsylvania’s 12 Congressional District in January 20226? 
2. What is the status of those who were detained? 
3. What basis were they detained? 
4. Why were ICE agents not in uniform and not providing appropriate identification? 
5. Where is Mr. Gomez Escalante’s work permit that he presented to the ICE agents? 
6. Why do ICE facilities charge an exorbitant amount of fees to make outgoing calls? 
7. Why was Mr. Gomez Escalante denied contact with his wife after receiving medical care? 
8. Why has Mr. Gomez Escalante been constantly handcuffed to his bed? 
9. How many medical professionals are available in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center? 
10. What kind of continued medical care is Mr. Gomez Escalante currently receiving? 
11. Why have U.S House of Representatives been denied to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center? 

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. 

Sincerely, 

Congresswoman Summer L. Lee  

Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District 

Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs.  Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.