Orlando Congressman Maxwell Frost and six other Democratic members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee were in Central Florida Monday to investigate detention practices and announce proposed legislation aimed at curbing local governments’ participation in those immigration enforcement actions.
Frost said the proposed legislation would stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement from pressuring local governments to house immigrant detainees on its behalf through agreements currently being used in Florida.
State law currently requires Florida counties to have an agreement in place with ICE to house immigrant detainees. If enacted, the proposed No Illegal Captivity and Extensions, or NICE, Act would override the state law.
“There's nothing nice about turning buses into jails on wheels and holding people past their release date, or denying them basic rights and dignity,” Frost said.
The rebooking ‘loophole’
ICE agents have at times rebooked immigrant detainees in order to hold them without charges for longer than 72 hours, the maximum length of time allowed, according to ICE policy. The federal agency has exploited that detainer system “loophole” in Orange County and beyond, Frost said.
In a letter sent to ICE earlier this year, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings confirmed that staff in the county’s corrections department had observed such rebookings, where ICE would remove and then rebook the same inmate into the county jail, “effectively restarting the 72-hour clock.” Demings wrote in the letter that the rebooking practice would have to stop.
RELATED: In a letter to ICE, Demings halts rebookings, caps number in jail without charges
Frost said that in Orange County the rebookings for immigrant detainees got worse before they started to get better.
“Last year, this was happening maybe once or twice per person? By the beginning of this year, we were told it was 9, 10, 11 times.”
More recently, the jail officials told him “they have not seen that rebook happen,” Frost said, adding that just because the practice has been curtailed in Central Florida doesn’t mean it’s not still happening elsewhere in the state.
“No one should be kept in custody because ICE failed to find detention space, no one should be transported across the state in shackles to avoid their release deadline, and no one should disappear into a detention center without accountability or due process,” Frost said. “That is what has been going on this last year and a half.”
Seeking accountability
Committee members spent time Monday at the Orange County Jail, hearing directly from detainees about their experiences.
“Many of them don't know why they're there,” said Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, D-California. “They are there with legal work permits, which is something we heard pretty unanimously amongst the group. It was shocking.”
Frost said he spoke with several detainees who were apprehended at last weekend’s Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, including some who were driving for rideshare apps like Uber.
“It's obvious that law enforcement was out there targeting people,” Frost said.
Frost also said he met with “Uncle Lou,” the owner of a beloved Orlando music venue who was apprehended and brought into custody over the weekend. Frost said he spoke with ICE Monday about Uncle Lou’s situation.
“What we can assure everybody is we're going to make sure that he gets the due process that he deserves,” Frost said.
Democratic lawmakers said they are also focused on accountability for the people and companies participating in President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
“We want documents,” Frost said. “We want contracts, communications, policies and records related to these practices. We want to know who authorized them, how long they've been happening and how many people have been affected.”
Committee members will demand records from private contractors involved in detention transportation operations, including companies that may have taken or held people on buses for prolonged periods in inhumane conditions, Frost said.
“Quite frankly, some of the worst abuses that are happening in the entire country are happening under Governor DeSantis, and are happening here in the state of Florida,” Garcia said.
Shortly after Trump began his second term, DeSantis signed agreements between ICE and several state agencies, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The 287(g) agreements authorize state agencies to assist ICE on immigration enforcement.
“We want to be part of the solution,” DeSantis said at the time.
RELATE: Florida agencies partner with Feds to help enforce immigration laws
Two types of agreements
Right now, Florida law requires counties to have some kind of agreement in place for temporarily housing people who are detained by ICE. For more than a year, the Orange County Commission has heard repeatedly about this issue, with residents and commissioners flagging humanitarian concerns and the financial costs to the county.
Up until recently, Orange County’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement, or IGSA, with the U.S. Marshals Service included a section pertinent to ICE. County commissioners and Mayor Demings voted unanimously last month to terminate the ICE section of its IGSA and transition instead to a Basic Ordering Agreement or BOA.
RELATED: Orange County chips ICE out of federal agreement, still must accept detainees at jail
Under the BOA, the county may release immigration detainees from detention after 48 hours, instead of the 72-hour detention timeframe set by ICE.
