Orange County has booked nearly 6,000 inmates with ICE detainers into its jail this year through November and the numbers continue to soar.
Many of those apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or deputized agents were suspected only of immigration irregularities and faced no charges for state or local crimes, a fact that prompted another hours-long discussion among Orange County commissioners questioning how much they should be cooperating.
“This is happening to our neighbors. This is happening to our friends,” Commissioner Nicole Wilson said.
In August, the board grappled with another question of cooperation but voted — under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ threat to boot them from office if they defied immigration authorities — to ratify a pact with ICE to allow county jailers to transport immigration detainees from jail to federal detention facilities like Alligator Alcatraz.
Despite all the worry, county officials disclosed Tuesday that they have not yet actually chauffeured any immigration inmate from jail to anywhere.
“But in terms of those who are housed in our jail, the county attorney has just opined that statutorily we’re required to accept those persons,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said. “We are a subdivision of the state. The state’s a subdivision of the nation.”
As of November 30, the county jail had booked in 5,907 people with ICE detainers, a jail official told the Orlando Sentinel after the meeting.
“Our communities are living in the nightmares that we and every other American dread: residents aggressively being taken by masked agents (in) unmarked cars and arrested without warrants,” said Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, organizing director at Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka. “We came to you in March and warned you…Where is our commission? Where is your leadership?”
In November, the daily population of the jail included on average 265 inmates with ICE detainers, a formal request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold the inmate up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release date for the federal agency to take custody.
The daily average of inmates with ICE detainers has not been under 200 since April.
And while many of those are accused of other crimes, jail officials counted 120 inmates in custody Tuesday with ICE detainers but facing no criminal charges.
Those numbers have fluctuated day-to-day over the last six months, Public Safety Director Danny Banks said, and they threaten to place a strain on the jail.
“The point is — 120 is a lot. What might be our max? We don’t clearly define that for some security reasons, but we’re getting much closer,” Banks told commissioners during a two-hour discussion of immigration prompted by public concern over the county’s role in enforcement. “When we hit a max, we have the ability lawfully to say, ‘We have no more room at the inn. You gotta go somewhere else.’ ”
Banks said local police agencies have been less involved in federal ICE operations than state agencies, citing work by officers with the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Financial Services.
According to data provided by Orange County corrections, about 70 people were in custody every day in November classified as an immigration detainee without a pending criminal charge, about 10 times as many as in January, when President Trump took office.
The figure rose steadily from about 7 a day in January to a peak of 79 a day in July.
November’s numbers are the highest since July.
Orange County has so far footed the entire bill for holding immigration detainees and is owed about $4 million, according to immigration activists critical of ICE.
The county Corrections Department said it has received $207,000 from the federal government for housing ICE inmates this year, but estimated its actual expenses at $1.74 million for the period covering costs through November, according to an email late Wednesday from jail spokesperson Tracy Zampaglione.
The housing cost is $180 a day per detainee. The feds have agreed to pay about $88 per day per detainee with county taxpayers on the hook for the balance.
Banks said the county hopes to negotiate more favorable financial terms.
Talks were suspended amid the federal government’s 43-day shutdown, which ended Nov. 12.
Demings said the dialogue with the U.S. Marshal Service hasn’t ended.
“It is my intent that every dollar we have spent to house federal inmates, we will seek to get those dollars back,” he said.
The board discussion followed a noon press conference led by “Immigrants Are Welcome Here,” a coalition of community groups and faith leaders who previously urged Orange County commissioners to resist Gov. Ron DeSantis’ demand they cooperate with ICE.
Orlando resident Johanna Álvarez, 24, recounted her mom’s detention last month that ended Sunday with self-deportation.
She said her mother, Noemi Álvarez Sanchez, 42, had lived in the U.S. for 26 years and fully cooperated with immigration authorities for more than a decade while seeking asylum here. She opted to return voluntarily to Mexico rather than face re-arrest.
“This will be our first Christmas without her,” Álvarez said of Sanchez, who worried her 2-year-old daughter would be put in foster care.
She self-deported with the little girl.
Álvarez said her mother was coaxed from her home barefoot the morning of Nov. 19 by Florida Department of Financial Services agents who identified themselves as “state police” and said they wanted to talk about her car. She said her mother was concerned something may have happened to Álvarez, who had taken her own children, ages five and three, to preschool that morning.
Then the DFS agents began to question her immigration status, threatening to take her into custody, said Álvarez, who was born in the U.S.
“I feel it’s very unfair that they’ve separated my mom from us when she is and has always been the backbone of our family,” Álvarez said, trembling as she spoke. “Now my sister, me and our kids are left to figure out how to move forward now that our family is torn apart.”
shudak@orlandosentinel.com