ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings on Tuesday sent a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service requesting the renegotiation of the county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement on arresting and holding detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings seeks renegotiation of Intergovernmental Service Agreement on assisting with ICE detainees

Demings made the request to Aisha Ogburn, a grants specialist with the Prison Operations Division of the U.S. Marshals Service

The number of arrests continues to increase, and the county’s cost is $180 per day, per inmate, Demings said

Orange County is reimbursed $88 per day, but it is costing the government $92 per day, per inmate more than that, Demings said

In a letter to Aisha Ogburn, a grants specialist for the South Central Region of the Prisoner Operations Division of the Marshal’s Service, Demings writes that increasing numbers of ICE immigration inmates and an inadequate reimbursement for expenses related to holding the detainees is costing Orange County $92 per day more than the $88 per day the county is allocated under terms of the IGSA.

According to Demings’ letter, Orange County Corrections has received 3,626 additional ICE inmates since Aug. 11, 2025, and the county’s costs are calculated at $180 per day, per inmate. 

Since that date, Demings writes, “Orange County Government has continued to shoulder the financial responsibility of supporting ICE enforcement activities without being properly reimbursed for those expenses. Orange County has done our part to ensure our operations are compliant with both federal and state laws which have mandated our participation in supporting immigration enforcement activities. But I am deeply concerned that the fiscal impact of these legislative mandates is being unfairly shouldered by the taxpayers of Orange County, to the tune of over $333,592.”

In addition to requesting the U.S. Marshals Service’s immediate renegotiation of the IGSA, Demings asked for full reimbursement of the expenses that he said the county has incurred so far to support immigration enforcement activities and an updated timeline for the financial burden on Orange County to be resolved.

“The burden of the expense related to immigration enforcement activities should be borne by the federal government, not local governments who’ve been forced to follow the law in support of your initiatives,” Demings wrote.