Press Releases

Miramar, FL – Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) made an unannounced oversight inspection of the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office in Miramar, where advocates recently shared troubling testimony from people released or transferred from the facility about the conditions and treatment taking place there.

Click here for video of the press conference.

The Miramar facility is supposed to be an administrative check-in facility but is now functioning as a short-term detention site, holding detainees in crowded areas for 72 hours or more without the same humane detention standards that other ICE facilities are required to meet. There were approximately 150 detainees held at the facility when Wasserman Schultz inspected the site.

“I’ve been to this facility many times alongside my late colleague Alcee Hastings because of reports of a lack of sun cover, water, and toilets for people waiting to check in. Today, I had to do this surprise inspection to see inside for myself, and what I saw were people packed in like sardines, in conditions I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy,” said Wasserman Schultz. “I’ll continue to conduct oversight of South Florida ICE operations and fight to hold them accountable for their brutality.”

While in the facility, Wasserman Schultz saw four “holding tanks,” with two for men and two for women, with a single exposed toilet in the corner of each tank. The men’s area was about 15’x15’, with about 70 men crammed in, shoulder-to-shoulder and wall-to-wall, she said. The women’s area was approximately 7’x14’, with about 40 people in the same tight conditions. Individuals were forced to sleep on a hard floor and made to use the toilet in front of others.

Detainees are allowed one water bottle a day, along with 7.5 oz meals. ICE officers told Wasserman Schultz that detainees are allowed to shower once every other day. There is no space for in-person attorney access or family visitation at the facility.

####