Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that, beginning March 1, the jail will limit the number of detainees being held without criminal charges.
The county will also stop letting ICE rebook detainees in order to hold them without charges for longer than 72 hours.
In a letter sent Tuesday to ICE Assistant Field Office Director Norman Bradley, Demings said the county “remains committed to supporting federal immigration enforcement ... while maintaining a safe, secure and efficient jail for the citizens of Orange County.”
Demings wrote that he's "implementing operational guidelines" aligned with the county's Intergovernmental Service Agreement "to address resource constraints driven by recent housing demands."
He said ICE exceeded the IGSA's daily estimate of 94 men and 20 women, and that has put stress on staffing and other resources. As of Tuesday morning, the county reported 191 inmates with an ICE hold and local charges, and 96 held for ICE with no local charges.
Two weeks ago, it reported more than 200 inmates with an ICE hold and local charges, and 158 with an ICE hold but no local charges.
To continue to support immigration enforcement "within the limits of our capacity," Demings said he's capping the number of detainees held without charges at 66 men and 64 women.
Rebookings
The other issue -- the rebooking of inmates to hold them without charges for more than 72 hours -- was raised by attorney Josephine Arroyo at a County Commission meeting last week.
"Orange County is allowing ICE to circumvent the law," she said, "by removing individuals every 72 hours, then bringing them back, rebooking them under a new booking number, artificially resetting the clock, prolonging detention without due process."
In the letter, Demings said the Orange County Corrections Department has observed that practice. He said it "strains OCCD resources, disrupts workflow, and circumvents the intended operation of the (IGSA) agreement."
In an interview with Central Florida Public Media, Arroyo described the confusion it creates.
"Sometimes when they're rebooked," she said, "it takes them a while to update the system, which is why there's been many times where we're at the jail trying to find our client ... and they tell us that they're not there, but indeed they are, and it wasn't in the system."
Also on Tuesday, the Immigrants Are Welcome Here Coalition sent Demings a letter urging the county to get clarification on its legal obligations to cooperate with ICE. The letter urged the county "to vindicate its right" to withdraw from the immigration enforcement portions of the IGSA.
Demings responded saying he understands their concern. He said the county is looking at possible litigation seeking "just compensation" for its expenses housing federal detainees. He said Orange County is also exploring whether it has the legal authority to prohibit the location of an ICE detention facility in unincorporated areas of the county.
An immigration official visited Orlando to view a potential detention site in mid-January -- but that site is within city limits.
