{"id":148808,"date":"2026-02-09T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/148808\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T13:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:00:07","slug":"u-s-reps-speak-against-ice-facility-in-central-florida-tallahassee-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/148808\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Reps. Speak Against ICE Facility in Central Florida \u2013 Tallahassee Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Mitch Perry, The Florida Phoenix<\/p>\n

Two Democratic U.S. Reps. from Central Florida \u2014 Maxwell Frost and Darren Soto \u2014 have written\u00a0a letter\u00a0to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons regarding speculation they will soon open an ICE detention center in Orlando.<\/p>\n

Their message is simple: Don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write to strongly and unequivocally oppose the opening of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Central Florida,\u201d write Frost and Soto in the letter sent out on Friday. \u201cWe do not need additional ICE facilities to accompany the excessive immigration enforcement within our state that is being used to tear local families apart. Many of our constituents have raised concerns and opposition to the detention center proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports of ICE opening a processing center in southeast Orlando have emerged in recent weeks, with a reported cost of nearly $100 million, according to the\u00a0Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Naples U.S. Rep. and GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds visited the site last week, where he\u00a0spoke in support\u00a0of the proposed facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are going to deport millions of criminal illegals out of our country, it is a major logistical effort,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to be able to house people, process them properly. Prepare them to leave the country. It\u2019s not just something that you snap your fingers and it happens overnight. It is an orderly process that must happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their letter, Frost and Soto write that the warehouse being considered by ICE is not zoned for human residence and is inadequate to accommodate waste management and general habitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are especially concerned regarding the risks to human life and safety should such a structure be hit with natural disasters. Given the deplorable conditions at other ICE facilities, we find it increasingly difficult to believe that this facility would do more than propagate suffering for the people of Central Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Homeland Security does open an ICE facility in Orlando, local officials are powerless to stop them.<\/p>\n

Citing the Federal Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Mayanne Downs, Orlando\u2019s city attorney, wrote in\u00a0a legal opinion\u00a0last week that ICE is \u201cimmune from any local regulation that interferes in any way with its federal mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn sum, we can take no action to limit or regulate any activity by the federal government in its action to enforce federal immigration law, and that is clear and not debatable under the law of the United States and Florida,\u201d Downs concluded.<\/p>\n

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, told Orange County Commissioners last week that \u201cnone of us want to have a detention or ICE detention facility here, because of what we\u2019re seeing,\u201d according to\u00a0Central Florida Public Media.<\/p>\n

Democrat David Jolly, running against Demings for the nomination, said last month that he also opposes a new ICE facility in Central Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpanding detention facilities in Orlando won\u2019t make the community safer, just more fearful. It was wrong then, and it\u2019s wrong now,\u201d he said on\u00a0X.<\/p>\n

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