Sun Sentinel: Congresswoman describes ‘inhumane’ conditions at Miramar ICE facility

Miramar, Florida, July 2, 2026
The congresswoman said she was not allowed to speak to the detainees and only saw them behind a glass. They called to her, she said, crying for their “human rights.” “They looked shriveled and miserable,” she said. “You wouldn’t wish these conditions on anyone you love, or really on anyone at all. It is inhumane. It is unacceptable.”
 By Rafael Olmeda
 
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Removal Operations Field Office in Miramar isn’t supposed to be a detention center, but in recent weeks it has turned into one with conditions U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz described Thursday as “inhumane” and “cruel.”
 
Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida Democrat running for re-election in a newly redrawn district against four other candidates, made an unannounced visit to the building in the 2800 block of Southwest 145 Avenue, then spoke to reporters outside the building.
 
Conditions inside, she said, reminded her of the “unacceptable” treatment detainees endured at the recently closed Alligator Alcatraz facility in the Everglades.
 
“The room where women were being held was, I would say, about 12-by-12, and that includes a toilet in the corner of the room, with no privacy at all,” she said. “The men’s holding cell was about 24-by-24. There were easily 75 men in that room … How are they dealing with eating and showering?”
 
The average stay for the detainees, who report themselves at the site to avoid arrest and register for eventual self-deportation only to find themselves unable to leave, is 72 hours, Wasserman Schultz said.  The detainees get three meals a day — a microwavable, 7.5-ounce serving fit for a snack, she said.
 
The center has been the focus of numerous complaints from people leaving after their release, she said. Some have claimed to be there more than five days. Wasserman Schultz said she could not confirm those accounts and that ICE denied them to her.
 
Two fire trucks and an ambulance entered the property as Wasserman Schultz spoke to reporters outside on Thursday.
 
The congresswoman said she was not allowed to speak to the detainees and only saw them behind a glass. They called to her, she said, crying for their “human rights.”
 
“They looked shriveled and miserable,” she said. “You wouldn’t wish these conditions on anyone you love, or really on anyone at all. It is inhumane. It is unacceptable.”
 
Briefly addressing Spanish language media, Wasserman Schultz added one more description. “It is cruel,” she said.
 
Standing behind her and waiting to re-enter the facility to self-report was Jorge Alain Hernandez, 48, a Cuban native living in Opa-locka who came to self-report earlier this week only to find himself held for three days in the room Wasserman Schultz described. He was released on Wednesday.
 
“Everything she said was true,” he said. “They put us in that little cell. People were sleeping on the floor with no mattresses.”
 
He said he had previously been held at Alligator Alcatraz for six months, but if he had known they were going to hold him again in Miramar, he would not have shown up Monday to self-report.
 
“They’re going to tell your family to wait outside and then when you’re in, boom, they’ve got you,” he said.
 
On Thursday he held a court order in his hand that he said would prevent ICE from detaining him again the next time he self-reports.
 
ICE has not confirmed the conditions described by Wasserman Schultz.