Under pressure from state officials, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings backtracked and signed an addendum allowing county corrections officers to transport ICE detainees to other facilities.
Demings plans to bring the revised contract to the full Board of Orange County Commissioners at next week’s meeting.
Demings had been outspoken, arguing the Orange County Jail is understaffed so it’s a public safety issue to send corrections officers out of the county to transport ICE detainees. Alligator Alcatraz, for instance, is more than four hours away from the jail.
However, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was calling on Orange County officials to sign the addendum or else risk having Gov. Ron DeSantis throw them out of office.
Demings and U.S. Rep Maxwell Frost, an Orlando Democrat, both spoke harsh words during a back-and-forth escalating this week. Demings, a former Orange County Sheriff and Orlando Police Chief, insisted he is following immigration laws and will not be subjected to what he called Uthmeier’s bullying.
Both DeSantis and Uthmeier were in town Friday for an Orange County press conference. DeSantis, who is known for making scathing attacks and isn’t afraid to go negative, did not utter Demings’ name nor did he speak critically of Orange County during the press conference other than saying, “I don’t know how you would say that taking criminal aliens off the street is making Orange County less safe.”
So far, more than 600 ICE detainees have been deported from the Everglades’ Alligator Alcatraz, and the state is considering opening a second detention center at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Starke, outside Jacksonville, DeSantis said at Friday’s press conference.
The Northeast Florida site has a runaway, although it’s shorter, but seems to make “logistical sense” and could hold a few thousand detainees, the Governor added.
DeSantis appeared to respond to Orange County’s concerns that the federal government is not fully reimbursing the local cost on immigration enforcement. He brought up a law passed during this year’s Special Session that provides $250 million for local agencies stepping up to handle immigration enforcement.
“There is money through our immigration folks where they can apply for reimbursement,” DeSantis said. “One of the things people were saying was, ‘Well, this is like an unfunded mandate.’ No, it’s not going to be unfunded. We will have an ability for you to get resources.”
Florida is taking the lead to help support President Donald Trump’s call for mass deportations by turning to local law enforcement agencies.
“Our immigration enforcement section is going to be, I think, first in the nation. I don’t think any other state is doing what the state of Florida is doing,” said Dave Kerner, Executive Director of Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. “We’re about to have hundreds, if not thousands, of sheriff’s deputies and police department officers coming online. This unit will be responsible for coordinating with the federal government and making sure we’re maximizing our utility as law enforcement officers to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants.”
Meanwhile, Democrats and immigration advocates argue Florida is often targeting undocumented immigrants who are hardworking and tax-paying people who play an important role in communities and the state’s economy, not the hardened criminals immigration hardliners often describe.
The media is also reporting on people being wrongfully detained at Alligator Alcatraz.
The Orlando Sentinel reported a Mexican citizen visiting Central Florida on a tourist visa was taken to the Everglades detention center last month, although he has since been released and returned home.
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