As Florida law enforcement officers and ICE agents focus more extensively on locating and detaining unauthorized immigrants, cracks are beginning to appear in what has been a near-unanimous effort in public.
In Pinellas County, the sheriff stated that 200 inmates were sleeping on the floor in order to make room for newly arrived detainees.
Orange County officials are looking at the thousands of dollars that taxpayers will have to pay for persons who broke no laws in their jurisdiction.
“We want the federal government to pay for what they’re doing,” Mayor Jerry Demings explained.
Orange County’s Price Problem
For years, immigration officers used a method to manage their arrests that looked to work for everyone.
Contracts had been negotiated with seven jails across the state where federal agents may temporarily house inmates before transporting them to a federal-run facility in South Florida.
Orange County is home to Central Florida’s largest jail, with almost 4,000 beds.
In Tampa, it was the Pinellas County Jail.
Anyone with a federal immigration hold caught up by ICE, US Marshals, or Florida Highway Patrol may be dropped off at those facilities, where they would spend around 24 hours before boarding a bus.
President Trump’s executive order to tighten down on immigration, along with Florida’s demand that cops and deputies implement immigration laws, lit the system fire. Bookings of undocumented immigrants at the Orange County jail increased 134% year over year in April, with the county on course to surpass 2024’s total by mid-May.
The increase for immigrants held solely on immigration holds was 364%.
Not all of the inmates came from Orange County.
On Tuesday, Public Safety Administrator Danny Banks informed the state’s Immigration Council that some 40 people were carried across from Lake County late last week. “They were arrested, I believe, by FHP, all for immigration violations, and they’re coming into the Orange County Jail.”
Orange County is currently capable of handling the convicts. Data showed that the jail was 82% full as of Thursday morning. Approximately one in every twenty inmates was an unauthorized immigrant.
However, county officials stated that their contract with ICE is outdated. Each inmate’s jail stay costs $145 per day. ICE only reimburses the county $88 for each inmate without a local charge.
According to records, the county housed an average of 17 illegal offenders with no local charges per day in April. Orange County taxpayers paid $28,557 on inmates who did not commit a crime, at a rate of $57 per offender per day.
Mayor Demings, a former sheriff, did not specify where the money may have been spent, saying only that the budget was set to protect the jail’s ability to operate.
He stated his staff was still working to renegotiate the ICE deal.
“My job is to negotiate for our county to receive a fair deal, and we will get one. “I have no doubt about that,” Demings stated.
Pinellas County’s capacity issue
When the Pinellas County sheriff discussed finding a solution at Tuesday’s council meeting, he sounded more irritated than confident.
“They’re sleeping on the floor because we have to keep other housing units free for these inmates coming from all over the place before they can get them on the bus down to Fort Myers,” Bob Gualtieri told the crowd. “Money is essential, but it’s more about space. We are out of space and could use Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco, Citrus, and other locations, but they will not authorize it.”
