After weighing their options under public scrutiny last month, Orange County commissioners next Tuesday will discuss a resolution crafted by their legal team that expresses opposition to the conversion of any warehouse in the county into a detention facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Orange County is both a residential community and a globally recognized visitor destination and the placement of a detention and processing facility would strain limited water, sewer and municipal services while harming neighborhood quality of life and the County’s international visitor experience and reputation,” the resolution reads, in part.
“Orange County expressly opposes the placement of any detainee processing facility within Orange County and finds the County to be an unsuitable location for such a facility.”
The resolution comes in response to public outcry over purported plans by the federal government to turn an industrial warehouse in southeast Orlando into a new ICE detention facility — which would be the first in Central Florida. Although this plan was first reported back in January, county leaders haven’t been “contacted by, consulted by, or solicited” by federal officials to confirm or inquire about the property, according to the resolution.
City officials have similarly said they’ve received crickets, and don’t believe they have the legal authority to block the development of an ICE detention facility, even if they wanted to.
“We can take no action to limit or regulate any activity by the federal government in its action to enforce federal immigration law, and that is clear and not debatable under the law of the United States and Florida,” city attorney Mayanne Downs told the mayor and city commissioners in January. “We are duty bound to follow the law, even when we don’t approve of it.”
The Orlando warehouse, owned by an LLC operated by the Atlanta-based TPA Group, is one of a couple dozen warehouses the Trump administration is eyeing for purchase nationwide, sparking concerns from residents of blue and deep-red cities alike.
It’s part of federal officials’ effort to more than double its detention capacity, from roughly 46,000 to 100,000 detention beds, to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. His administration has touted a goal of deporting one million unauthorized immigrants each year. Several existing facilities, including one in Miami, have been accused of human rights violations.
“At Krome [North Service Processing Center], we heard from people inside that they are regularly denied medical care. They don’t have adequate food. There is abuse by the guards,” Amnesty International director of refugee and migrant rights Amy Fischer, told NPR in December.
Immigrant workers in Orlando’s tourism industry — the economic driver of the region – are currently living under fear, union leaders recently told Orlando Weekly. That includes Disney World employees from Venezuela and Haiti who are living and working here lawfully under the federal Temporary Protected Status program. Some have lived here for decades, have bought homes, gotten married, and raised families here.
The Trump administration, however, has sought to revoke TPS for several countries, including Haiti and Venezuela, throwing the fate of hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients across the U.S. into uncertainty.
“Every single day is living under threat,” Pericles Joseph, who is an immigrant from Haiti and dishwasher at Disney World’s Epcot, told Orlando Weekly through a translator with his union, Unite Here, last month. He’s lived in the U.S. since 2008.
Orange County leaders, however, have their hands tied in many respects on what they can do to resist or regulate ICE activity under federal and state law. Florida statutes require local governments to demonstrate “best efforts” to aid federal immigration enforcement, although local advocates have pointed out that “best efforts” isn’t clearly defined.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has threatened to remove county and city officials, should they violate these statutes. Advocates have called on the county to file a lawsuit over the issue to get clarification on what exactly “best efforts” entails.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, however — a Democrat who has filed to run for Florida Governor this year — has gently resisted those calls, stating vague terms publicly that the county needs more time to gather evidence that they are indeed providing “best efforts.”
The Orange County Jail, for instance, has been serving as a temporary holding center for ICE detainees, despite federal reimbursement for this service failing to keep up with the actual cost to the county.
“The fight is not over,” Demings affirmed during a board meeting last month that featured hours of discussion on the issue. “At the end of the day, we want to be in a position where, if we go into litigation, we win.”
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