Published February 4, 2026 at 6:30 PM EST The recent arrest of an immigrant from Nicaragua living in Oakmont is generating confusion from neighbors and blowback from local elected officials. They’re seeking clarity about the situation from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, but say the agency lacks transparency and has been largely unresponsive to their questions.Oakmont Borough manager Scot Fodi said Flores’ arrest has sent shockwaves through the suburban community, whose population is below 7,000.“I expected ICE to be in a major metropolitan area like Pittsburgh, but not coming to the suburbs,” Fodi said. “There’s a sense of unease in the community.”As first reported by Trib Live, ICE agents detained Jose Flores on Jan. 29 while he was getting ready to take his eight-year-old daughter to school. The circumstances surrounding his arrest remain unclear: ICE’s press office did not respond to a request for comment, and a call to the agency’s field office in Pittsburgh went unanswered, with no option to leave a message.But community members and elected leaders have said Flores has no criminal record, a valid work permit, and an active claim for asylum.U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, whose district includes Oakmont, sent a letter to acting ICE director Tom Lyons on Tuesday asking him to answer basic questions about the detention and provide information about the agency’s immigration-enforcement activities in the area.He told WESA that ICE has not been forthcoming about why Flores was arrested.“We don’t have good visibility into what they’re doing,” he said. “If you’ve got a reason to be detaining someone, let’s be clear and make sure the public understands.”ICE is “very slow at best to respond to congressional inquiries,” he added. Deluzio said it took more than five months for the agency to supply information about an August operation in Ambridge that ultimately resulted in the arrest and deportation of 10 people.“I think when you throw that against the context of seeing agents around the country operating with masks on their face, [with] the quotas we’ve heard about for arrests, the detention and deportation of even American citizens, and of course the killing of American citizens, you start to see the problem.”State Rep. Joe McAndrew, whose House district includes Oakmont, said word of Flores' arrest spread quickly through local networks."These types of operations have been occurring in the area increasingly in the past several months," he said, but the Flores situation was notable. "People feel for this family: This guy gets picked up by ICE in front of his own kid. He did everything to achieve the American Dream, and it got ripped away from him in a matter of moments."A check of federal records confirms that Flores is currently being held at a correctional facility in West Virginia, with a court hearing scheduled in mid-February.Immigration attorney Patrick Joseph Murphy says the legal issues are more nuanced than the public furor suggests. Murphy, who is familiar with Flores' situation, said Flores made his asylum claim after being admitted to the United States on humanitarian parole. His work permit provides the means for Flores to take care of himself and his family while he is here, but does not by itself authorize him to be a resident. The asylum claim, Murphy said, could have been adjudicated without releasing Flores at the border, but from within detention instead.And that's what will happen now, he said — a reflection of the hardline approach to immigration that Trump campaigned on and is pursuing in office.Trump administration officials "aren't breaking the law. But they are breaking with tradition," Murphy said. "And that's what is making people outraged: It's disrupting the social fabric. These folks have been allowed here for so long, and they are part of our society. And then they are gone."Flores would raise his asylum claim at his upcoming hearing, and Murphy said it could take a few months to hold a separate hearing on the claim. Flores would likely remain behind bars during that time, he said.McAndrew is calling on residents to reach out to US Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick: The Senate is currently debating whether funding for ICE should depend on making changes to its tactics and procedures.Oakmont mayor Sophia Facaros said the local government must now turn to assuring residents “that they are safe, that we are looking out for them.” She expects the borough council to pass a resolution in mid-February barring local police from enforcing noncriminal federal immigration laws or entering into 287(g) agreements, which allow them to carry out some immigration enforcement functions.“There was nothing we could do to stop it, but we’re gonna do the best we can for this not to happen again,” Facaros said.More broadly, McAndrew said discussion was underway about "how we can support neighbors in their communities. I truly believe people can change policy by standing up when they see something wrong." Oakmont, he said, is "not a place that people think would have a large immigrant population, but it is standing up and saying 'What we just witnessed here was wrong.' Having those voices will hopefully drive the policy change we need to see."Deluzio, meanwhile, is calling for “systematic reforms and accountability and guardrails around ICE conduct,” as well as greater congressional oversight.Chris Potter contributed to this story.