Orange County commissioners and Mayor Jerry Demings voted unanimously Tuesday to terminate the section of the county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement relevant to housing immigration detainees.
The rest of the county’s IGSA — besides the part pertinent to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — will stay in place. That means the county jail will continue to house inmates with federal criminal charges from entities like the FBI.
Because state law requires it, Orange County still needs to have an agreement in place for temporarily housing people who are detained by ICE. An IGSA is one way of meeting that requirement. Another way is through a Basic Ordering Agreement, or BOA, which the county now plans to pursue.
Under a BOA, the county may release immigration detainees from detention after 48 hours, reduced from the 72-hour detention timeframes set by ICE. The BOA also provides for a slightly lower reimbursement rate than the IGSA.
Right now, Orange County is only being reimbursed $88 a day per inmate under the IGSA, although the county is renegotiating that and the U.S. Marshals Service recently offered $125. The true cost of housing an inmate is $180 per day, according to county officials.
RELATED: Commission to review Orange County’s money-losing deal to hold ICE detainees at jail
Under a BOA, the base reimbursement rate is $50 per detainee for a 48-hour period. But state grant funds could help level out the difference, bringing the county’s reimbursement rate up to an average of $100 per day per inmate, according to Deputy County Administrator of Public Safety Danny Banks.
“Ultimately, as long as the state grant is in place, we would realize about $25 less per day under a BOA than we would under an IGSA,” Banks said.
County staff presented commissioners with three options Tuesday: terminate the IGSA entirely, terminate it in part, or keep it fully in place.
Although financials were a key part of the discussion, several commissioners said their biggest concern is not necessarily getting the county the best bang for its buck.
“I don't look at it as a financial gain or loss. I look at it as: I'm trying to do the right thing, and seeing that the system is flawed,” said District 3 Commissioner Mayra Uribe.
District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson echoed that sentiment.
“This is about making sure that we have an opportunity to have oversight, in every way possible, of what's being imposed upon Orange County's resources,” Wilson said.
In early February, Demings sent a letter to ICE advising the agency of new limitations the county was setting, including a cap of 130 total ICE inmates. ICE “immediately complied” with those restrictions and significantly reduced the volume of inmates it brought to the county jail, according to Banks and County Corrections Chief Louis Quiñones Jr.
Although the county will “theoretically” likely see fewer ICE inmates brought to the jail under a BOA versus the IGSA, there is no guarantee, Banks told commissioners prior to the vote.
“I want to caution you. I can't predict that,” Banks said. “Even if we went to a BOA, I can't prevent ICE from showing up tomorrow with 50 inmates … I don't operate their logistics or manage how they move their inmates.”
Still, the commission ultimately decided to replace the IGSA’s ICE component with a BOA.
It was a decision lauded by residents in attendance. Many had spent the better part of the last year urging county leaders to take more decisive action to support the due process rights of people caught up in President Donald Trump’s stepped up immigration enforcement.
Alex McCoy, a Marine Corps veteran, is one of about 60 people who urged action on the IGSA during public comment Tuesday. McCoy collected 620 signatures on an open letter from Florida veterans against military deployment for ICE deportations.
Reached by phone following the commission’s vote, McCoy said he appreciates the decision. McCoy said he realizes Florida law requires a “baseline level of cooperation with ICE.”
“I think that we should obviously follow the law, but there's no reason for us to be going out of our way to spend taxpayer dollars that we desperately need to invest in public services in education and infrastructure,” McCoy said.
Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, organizing director with Hope CommUnity Center, said that, while there’s still more work to be done, Tuesday marks a great “first step” for Orange County.
“As of today, we are no longer going to be serving as an ICE detention hub,” Gomez-Tejeda said.
“It means that we're going to have [fewer] people who are going to be detained unlawfully. It means that people care about due process,” Gomez-Tejeda said. “Our elected officials are saying yes to fighting for due process, and they're doing it within the restrictions that they've been given. … In the worst of circumstances, our leaders today really led.”
There was also some talk Tuesday about how the county might push back legally on Florida’s requirement that state and local law enforcement agencies use their “best efforts” to support “the enforcement of federal immigration law.” The term “best efforts” is not clearly defined by state statute, Assistant County Attorney Georgiana Holmes said.
Demings said “dialogue” would continue offline between his office and the county attorney's, in regards to any potential legal action.
