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Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings Credit: Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings\/Facebook<\/p>\nOrange County Mayor Jerry Demings Credit: Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings sent a letter to federal officials last Friday, threatening to cancel the county\u2019s agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement next month if the feds fail to renegotiate a higher reimbursement rate for the cost of detaining federal inmates in the Orange County Jail.<\/p>\n
Under the county\u2019s intergovernmental services agreement with ICE, negotiated through the U.S. Marshals Service, the Orange County Jail is allowed to serve as a temporary detention facility for people arrested by ICE on allegations of being in the U.S. illegally. The federal government is currently reimbursing the jail $88 for each person it holds, while county officials say the actual cost of housing a person is $180.<\/p>\n
County officials contacted the U.S. Marshals Service six months ago, in August, to ask for a higher reimbursement rate, to offset the cost that is otherwise left to be footed by Orange County taxpayers, including people who have rallied in the streets<\/a> against ICE. According to Demings, however, federal officials \u2014 while acknowledging the county\u2019s request \u2014 have so far failed to offer a suitable reimbursement rate.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been six months since our original request to renegotiate our IGSA, yet little progress has been made toward resolving this matter,\u201d Demings wrote in a Feb. 13 letter<\/a> to USMS grants specialist Aisha Ogburn. At the same time, he added, the county \u201ccontinues to bear the operational and financial burden\u201d of housing people arrested by ICE, as required under the IGSA. \u201cThe lack of your ability to offer us a fair and reasonable rate of reimbursement within an exceptionally reasonable amount of time has put Orange County in a remarkable position,\u201d Demings wrote.<\/p>\n The deficit that Orange County is facing for housing ICE detainees in the Orange County Jail \u2014 i.e., the cost to local taxpayers \u2014 has \u201cgrown exponentially\u201d since August, Demings said. Jail data presented to Orange County commissioners and Demings last week demonstrated a surge in ICE holds from October 2025 to January 2026 alone.<\/p>\n In January, ICE booked 1,849 people into the Orange County Jail, according to corrections data, up from 550 people in October 2025. The number of people held in the jail solely on ICE charges \u2014 and no other local charges, like a traffic infraction \u2014 increased nearly 300 percent, from 439 people in October to 1,684 people last month.<\/p>\n Demings earlier this month sent a similar letter to the feds, informing them that effective March 1, 2026, the jail will be limiting the number of people it will hold on behalf of ICE who are being detained for no other reason than an allegation of being in the country illegally (a civil, not criminal charge).<\/p>\n The jail will also refuse to rebook people who are being cycled in and out of the jail by federal immigration enforcement agents through what local immigrant rights advocates have characterized as a bad-faith loophole of the county\u2019s agreement with ICE.<\/p>\n Under the county\u2019s IGSA, Orange County Jail can hold ICE detainees for up to 72 hours before they must be moved to a different facility. In practice, federal agents have instead been taking people out of the jail and re-booking them back into the jail shortly after under a new booking number, artificially resetting the 72-hour clock.\u00a0<\/p>\n Demings\u2019 Feb. 13 letter states that if the USMS doesn\u2019t \u201cfairly resolve\u201d reimbursement renegotiations with the county by March 13, the county will \u201cclose\u201d negotiations and \u201cmove forward in considering options available to us\u201d \u2014 a likely reference to legal action \u2014 as well as the termination of the county\u2019s IGSA with ICE.<\/p>\n Deputy county attorney Georgiana Holmes told county leaders last week that formal claims seeking money from the U.S. government are subject to strict jurisdictional rules, and if filed, \u201cwould likely\u201d\u00a0 have to be brought in the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Calls from the public locally to end collaboration with ICE altogether have ramped up since the killings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month, sparking protests involving thousands of people nationwide. Unlike some other parts of the country, however, Florida\u2019s Republican-controlled state government has a particularly friendly relationship with ICE.<\/p>\n Under state law<\/a>, local governments are required to demonstrate \u201cbest efforts\u201d to support the enforcement of federal immigration law, thereby tying the hands of local officials to end collaboration or obstruct the agency\u2019s activities. Activists locally have urged county commissioners to file a lawsuit to seek clarification from\u00a0 the courts on what \u201cbest efforts\u201d actually means, since the term is not defined in state statutes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t just \u2026 hurting undocumented people, it\u2019s hurting entire communities,\u201d said Xiomary Rivera, a local hospitality union representative and U.S. citizen who told county commissioners last week that she herself had been racially profiled by law enforcement.<\/p>\n Demings, a Democrat and former sheriff who is running for Florida Governor this year, has punted this call to file a lawsuit, arguing the county first needs to be able to collect as much information and evidence as possible to demonstrate \u201cbest efforts\u201d \u2014 including by begging federal officials to fully reimburse the county for doing something it is obligated to do.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fight is not over,\u201d Demings argued during a board meeting last week that featured hours of discussion on the matter. \u201cAt the end of the day, we want to be in a position where, if we go into litigation, we win.\u201d<\/p>\n County commissions are at the same time considering coming up with a resolution to symbolically oppose<\/a> the development of a new ICE detention facility in Orlando, a possibility first reported by local media last month. <\/p>\n According to Bloomberg, a 440,000-square-foot industrial warehouse at 8660 Transport Drive in southeast Orlando \u2014 owned by the Atlanta-based TPA Group \u2014 is one of at least 23<\/a> warehouse sites across the U.S. that are being eyed by federal officials to develop into immigrant detention centers.<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tDemocrats on Monday railed against these expenditures, calling it an \u201cabuse\u201d of public money\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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