Federal agents arrested 13 people at a PennDOT driver’s license center near Kittanning on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that ICE responded to calls from the East Franklin Police Department “after concerned citizens reported an abnormally large amount of individuals outside the PennDOT driver licensing center in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.”

The statement said that ICE arrested 13 “illegal aliens” from countries including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. It alleged that one person resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.

“Residents thanked ICE for investigating their concerns and responding to their calls,” the spokesperson said. They added that the incident is now under investigation.

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Triblive reported that Armstrong County Sheriff Frank Pitzer said he heard about a large crowd of “foreign people” at the driver’s license center Friday morning.

Pitzer said that he passed the information along to ICE, but the agency did not give any indication that they intended to visit the center and detain people.

Some people online claimed that the 13 individuals had received a notice to report to the center to renew their licenses -Credit:Reading Eagle

Pitzer added that he was not given any advance notice. It is unclear if ICE gave a heads-up to any other state or local authorities. The state police declined to comment to Triblive.

By 1:30 pm, arrests had already been made outside the PennDOT center. Photos circulating on social media appear to show federal agents chasing and detaining men.

On X, some people familiar with the incident alleged that the undocumented individuals gathered outside the PennDOT center had received notices advising them to renew their licenses. When they showed up at the center, they were ambushed, according to one user.

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Channel 11 reached out to PennDOT – Pennsylvania Department of Transportation – regarding the incident and was provided with a statement saying, “The West Kittanning Driver License Center was processing medical form updates for current holders of non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license holders, which resulted in a large number of customers at West Kittanning today.”

“PennDOT follows all state and federal laws to issue driver’s licenses to lawfully present individuals. Pennsylvania uses the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify legal presence for all non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or driver license applicants. That federal system confirms immigration status in real-time.”

“For non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and driver licenses, we remain under a pause of issuing those documents, as directed by the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).”

“Per the direction of FMCSA, no non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits or driver licenses were issued or reissued. PennDOT remains steadfast in following state and federal law, and there is no activity or transaction occurring at West Kittanning or elsewhere that violates state or federal law.”

Incidents like the one in Kittanning are becoming increasingly common under the Trump administration’s leadership. Recent data has shown that two thirds of the people arrested by federal agents in Minnesota, under Operation Metro Surge, had no criminal record.

The data released by the Deportation Data Project through a Freedom of Information lawsuit, directly refutes claims made by the Trump administration that the operation was targeting thousands of “dangerous criminal illegal aliens.”