Orange County to Limit ICE Detainees and End Rebooking
This week Mayor Jerry Demings sent a letter to Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement outlining operational changes he says are needed to address strained staffing and resources and to operate a safe and efficient jail for Orange County residents. He also wrote the county remains committed to supporting federal immigration enforcement, and the updated guidelines align the corrections department housing practices with the existing intergovernmental service agreement the county has with ICE.
According to the Orange County Corrections Department, the number of people in custody solely because of ICE detainers, with no local charges, jumped from single digits to more than 140 a day on average.
Beginning March 1, Orange County Corrections will cap the number of ICE detainees with no local charges at 66 men and 64 women.
Also beginning in March, Orange County will eliminate the practice of multiple bookings for the same immigration matter.
Attorney Josephine Arroyo explains the process she says ICE is using to bypass the 72-hour holding limit, essentially keeping her clients locked up longer than the law allows. She and her husband Phillip own the Arroyo Law Firm in Orlando, and they are filing legal requests in court called habeas corpus petitions to claim their clients are being held in detention illegally. She says they represent 20 of those cases. So far, they’ve won five including two on Tuesday where a federal judge decided their immigrant client was being held illegally. Arroyo joins Engage to discuss what she says is a pattern of prolonged detentions.
To explain the legal framework, Michael Vastine, a visiting Professor of Law at Stetson University, joins Engage to explain what is allowed by law and what judges can do if authorities overstep.
An issue that keeps coming up is how long someone can be held in local custody on an ICE detainer without any immigration proceedings moving forward. Attorneys say the time limits are meant to keep people from sitting in jail indefinitely without due process. Orlando Attorney Walker Smith says some of his clients are choosing to leave the state because of what’s happening.
Court Blocks End of Haitian TPS
Members of Central Florida’s Haitian community are feeling relief, tempered by the uncertainty that lies ahead. A day before Temporary Protected Status for Haiti was scheduled to end February 3, a United States district court blocked the Trump administration from terminating the protections.
The designation allows recipients to live and work in the U.S. while shielding them from deportation. Central Florida is home to the second largest Haitian community in Florida with about 40,000 people who have immigrated here or are the children of immigrants, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Anne Piervil, a Haitian-American attorney in Orlando, discusses working to calm fears and educate the Haitian immigrant community about the impact of the decision.
The nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance estimates that Florida’s 158,000 Haitian TPS holders contribute $2.6 billion in annual economic contributions and more than $300 million in annual state and local tax revenue.
Wesny Theophin, a union organizer with Unite Here Local 737, works with other Haitian workers in the hospitality and restaurant industry. He talks about what life is really like right for these employees.
Central Florida’s Clarinet Orchestra Performs
If it can be played on a clarinet, The Licorice Sticks will oblige.
The Licorice Sticks are a clarinet band. The membership is fluid but at any time it can boast between 20 and 40 musicians from Central Florida and beyond. Led by Rick Kissinger, their programming includes jazz, swing, classical, klezmer and Latino and World music.
Bandleader Rick Kissinger stops by the Central Florida Public Media studios with bandmates Jonathan Steltzer, a UCF graduate student, and Joe Fritz, a full-time professional musician. They speak with Engage Producer Richard Copeland about rocking out on the woodwind.
The Licorice Sticks will perform at the Blue Bamboo at 3:00 p.m. this Sunday, February 8.
