U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 17 people in Glassport over the past few weeks, according to the borough’s police chief.

All 17 arrests occurred within two days, Chief Shawn DeVerse told TribLive on Wednesday.

“I recognize that ICE is an outside law enforcement agency,” he said. “They have every right to be in the community that any other federal agency has.”

Glassport is borough of about 4,400 people, located in the Mon Valley between McKeesport and Clairton.

DeVerse said the 17 people arrested were “definitely documented as illegal.” He did not have their names or addresses.

“I wasn’t given information on who they were and their statuses after the agents took them, but I was present for the most part when people were getting taken into custody,” he said.

DeVerse said ICE sent an agent to the Glassport police station to notify them that ICE was in the area. The first ICE action in Glassport was a traffic stop, DeVerse said, in which five people were apprehended from a pickup truck.

“Is it typical for a federal agency to let us know they are in town? No. Is it courteous? Yes, but they don’t have to tell us,” he said.

DeVerse said if ICE ever needs assistance from Glassport police, they will assist. However, he said police has no plans to go on roundups with ICE to pick people up.

“They have been in many communities in the area,” he said. “They (will) probably be back through Glassport.”

DeVerse said, as of Wednesday, he is unaware of any organized date or time ICE will return to Glassport.

In a released statement, the Glassport Police Department confirmed it is not a 287(g) agency, meaning it has no official partnership with ICE in which local police perform immigration officer duties, but it “recognizes that ICE is a federal law enforcement agency” and will “provide the same assist or support that we would provide any agency operating within our community when needed.”

“Our primary responsibility, however, remains the safety and security of the residents of Glassport. This commitment to our community comes first and foremost in all that we do,” the statement says. “As long as any outside law enforcement agency is acting within the lawful scope of its authority, we will work collaboratively and professionally to ensure operations are conducted safely, respectfully and in accordance with the law.”