Orange County will limit the number of immigration detainees in its jail and prevent federal authorities from dropping people off at the facility, then picking them but returning them a short while later.
The shuffling of people in, out and back into the jail is an effort to circumvent long-standing rules on how long those who face no local criminal charges can be locked up. In one recent case, a detainee was booked into the jail six times — making what should be a three-day stay in the 33rd Street facility into nearly a three-week stint.
Mayor Jerry Demings informed an ICE official of both changes in a letter Tuesday and said it comes as the county jail faces a surge in inmates picked up on immigration detainers but facing no local criminal charges.
The county’s long-standing agreement with the federal government anticipated the jail would hold up to 114 such people. But under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, that number has swelled, with 182 people in the jail on Thursday solely on immigration violations, and 115 of them, or 63%, booked into the jail more than once.
The changes will be implemented March 1, Demings wrote, and are to “ensure continued support of federal partners within the limits of our capacity…”
The mayor’s letter was written the same day a federal judge in Orlando criticized ICE’s practice of picking up detainees from the Orange County Jail, busing them to another facility where they are kept briefly and later returning them to the jail. Those rebooking efforts — first revealed by the Orlando Sentinel — get around a rule that a detainee with no criminal charges must be removed from the jail by ICE after 72 hours or be released.
U.S. District Judge Paul Byron demanded the names of the people responsible for ordering detainees to be moved in and out of the county jail and told an assistant U.S. Attorney that he’d face contempt charges if he didn’t comply this week.
Orange jail officials said it was ICE who shuffled such detainees in and out of the jail, as a way to restart the 72-hour clock.
Josephine Arroyo, an attorney on that case Tuesday, said she wondered if the judge’s critiques spurred action, along with public outcry.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction. It doesn’t undo the due process violations that already occurred, but I’m happy to hear that they’re going to put an end to that,” she said. “Clearly pressure was applied.”
Starting in March, the number of detainees with no criminal charges held at the jail will be capped at 66 males and 64 females per day, Demings wrote.
He also said the jail will eliminate multiple bookings of the same person.
“This practice strains OCCD resources, disrupts workflow, and circumvents the intended operation of the agreement. Accordingly, OCCD will eliminate multiple bookings for the same immigration matter. ICE inmates will be limited to one continuous housing period of up to 72 hours per immigration matter.”
Demings, a Democrat who is also running to be Florida’s next governor, wasn’t available for an interview about his letter, a spokesperson said.
Last week, Danny Banks, the county’s public safety director, told the Orlando Sentinel that the surging number of detainees was straining staff at the jail, well exceeding the space set aside to hold those solely with immigration violations and that rebookings were a problem.
ICE, he said, was often picking up detainees within the 72-hour period only to bring them back to the jail hours later.
The practice, advocates say, has led to confusion among family members who have been unable to find their loved ones at the jail, as sometimes they’re rebooked under a different identification number.
In his letter, Demings said the county’s decision was an effort to balance the requirements of its Intergovernmental Service Agreement with the federal government while trying not to strain the capacity of its corrections staff.
“The Orange County Government, specifically our Corrections Department, remains committed to supporting federal immigration enforcement required by federal and state law while maintaining a safe, secure and efficient jail for the citizens of Orange County,” he wrote.
In a separate letter on Wednesday to a member of the Immigrants Are Welcome Here Coalition, Demings said the county was exploring legal action against the state and federal governments related to how much the jail is reimbursed for housing costs. It costs $180 per day to house an inmate and the jail is reimbursed $88 per day. Further discussion is expected at Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting.
He said that the county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement with the federal government estimates Orange’s jail would hold a daily count of 94 males and 20 females for ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service combined. But ICE alone has outpaced that.
“In recent months, the volume of ICE detainees housed at OCCD has materially exceeded levels consistent with these terms, which has placed a sustained strain on staffing, building space and operational resources,” he wrote.
Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the executive director of the Hope CommUnity Center, which advocates for immigrants, and a Democrat running for the Florida House of Representatives, said while the letter is progress, the county needs to go further. He said he and other advocates want the county to sue the state to get clarification on whether the county is allowed to remove ICE from the federal jail agreement.
“If we don’t want our jails to continue to be overcrowded and be a place where due process is actually upheld, that agreement needs to end,” he said. “ICE needs to be out of the IGSA.”