{"id":221186,"date":"2026-04-06T22:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221186\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T22:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:39:08","slug":"activists-want-orlando-to-take-tougher-stance-against-ice-detention-center-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221186\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists want Orlando to take tougher stance against ICE detention center \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activists on Monday demanded Orlando leaders take a more forceful approach in opposing a possible ICE detention center within its borders<\/a>, saying the city\u2019s conclusion its hands were tied was inadequate after multiple such facilities across the country were scrapped due to local backlash.<\/p>\n

As federal authorities last week said the nationwide initiative to buy warehouses and transform them into immigration detention centers was on a \u201cpause,\u201d the roughly 20 people outside of City Hall asserted now was the time to push back.<\/p>\n

\u201cStand up against ICE and stand up for your constituents,\u201d said Jackie Giralt, an organizer with 50501. \u201cThis is happening \u2013 unless we stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CoreyCorey Hill, a spokesman for 50501 Orlando, speaks during a press conference outside Orlando City Hall, calling on city leaders to be more forceful in their opposition of a potential ICE detention facility in east Orlando, on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Mayor Buddy Dyer said he and city council members \u201chear your concerns [and] share your concerns\u201d after more than a dozen warehouse opponents spoke at Monday\u2019s council meeting. \u201cWe absolutely oppose any form of an ICE detention facility in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they reiterated that despite their resistance to the idea, their city attorney had determined they could not legally regulate or block a potential facility.<\/p>\n

Shortly after a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was seen touring the warehouse south of State Road 528 in January, Orlando\u2019s City Attorney Mayanne Downs issued a legal opinion to city leaders that federal law trumps local rules due to the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

A city spokesperson confirmed Orlando hasn\u2019t been contacted by any federal agency or official about the facility on Transport Drive. To date, records show no sale has yet been completed.<\/p>\n

Around the U.S., however, many local governments have broadly opposed ICE\u2019s warehousing plans. Lawsuits were filed in Maryland, New Jersey and Michigan, while in a small Georgia town, the city manager put a lock on the water meter as its sewer system was already at its max capacity.<\/p>\n

Overall, according to Project Salt Box<\/a>, 13 proposed warehouse purchases have fallen through due in part to bipartisan local opposition.<\/p>\n

Sec. Markwayne Mullin, who took office heading up the Department of Homeland Security last month, said during his confirmation hearings that he wanted to work with community leaders and \u201cbe good partners\u201d when the agency moves ahead with its $38.3 billion plan to boost nationwide detention capacity to 92,000.<\/p>\n

The potential Orlando facility could hold 1,500 detainees for roughly a week at a time in an effort to speed up President Trump\u2019s mass deportation ambitions.<\/p>\n

At a news conference hosted before Monday\u2019s council meeting, Pastor Sarah Robinson of the Audubon Park Covenant Church said such plans would be housing humans in a facility built and marketed to distribute goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find the defeatism of our current mayor and city commissioners incredible \u2013 as in not credible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"PastorPastor Sarah Robinson of Audubon Park Church speaks during a press conference outside Orlando City Hall, calling on city leaders to be more forceful in their opposition of a potential ICE detention facility in east Orlando, on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

At the news conference on the steps of City Hall, they hoisted a displayed sign reading \u201cStop Orlando Concentration Camp,\u201d a subtle pivot from its previous messaging of the \u201cLake Nona Concentration Camp.\u201d<\/a> Lake Nona Property Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Tavistock, sent the group a cease and desist letter for using its trademarked name of the Orlando planned community, noting the proposed site is miles away from the east Orlando neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Orange County last month approved a resolution formalizing its opposition to a warehouse, which activists Monday described as the bare minimum action.<\/p>\n

Still, a few city commissioners suggested Orlando could look at a similar declaration.<\/p>\n

A letter delivered to city officials Monday, signed by a coalition of immigrant rights groups and advocates, called on them to \u201cdo everything with your power to not burden our community with the trauma that would come with a detention center and the accompanying increase in ICE activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask that you step up, enforce the local laws you swore to uphold, and protect this community,\u201d it reads. \u201cWe will not stand for concentration camps in Orlando, we expect you to stand with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activists on Monday demanded Orlando leaders take a more forceful approach in opposing a possible ICE detention center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,29,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-221186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}