Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and the bulk of the board of county commissioners on Tuesday shut down a call from community members and Commissioner Kelly Semrad to draft a trigger resolution that would cancel the county’s agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement when and if it is no longer legally required.
Under a new state immigration law, all operators of county jails are required to enter into what are known as 287(g) agreements with ICE, the federal immigration enforcement agency. City governments that don’t operate any sort of jail or detention facility are not, and the city of Orlando got flak for doing so anyway. (At the same time, Florida AG James Uthmeier threatened to remove Dyer from office after Dyer said that the Orlando Police Department would not be “proactive” in immigration enforcement.)
A coalition of immigrant rights, labor and social advocacy groups in Central Florida have organized efforts to ensure due process for immigrants in the community who are detained by ICE and held in the Orange County jail system.
Advocates called on Orange County leaders Tuesday to, at the very least, ensure detainees have access to “know your rights” information and legal resources in their language. They also asked the county to draft a resolution that would trigger the cancellation of the county jail’s agreement with ICE if they are no longer required to under state law or the law is determined unconstitutional.
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“We do recognize that your hands are tied to a certain extent,” said Sophia Glover, with Florida Rising, advocating as part of the Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition, made up of 30 local advocacy groups. “We’re not asking you to do anything that’s not within your power to do,” she affirmed.
A motion from county commissioner Kelly Semrad that afternoon to have staff look into drafting up a trigger resolution ended up abandoned, after a contentious back-and-forth on the dais over what exactly Semrad was asking of them.
“I’m uncomfortable with having to vote on something brought up from the floor unless I have time to research it,” said commissioner Christine Moore, visibly panicked.
“I think it’s premature to be adopting resolutions,” Demings agreed. “We want people to be treated with dignity and respect. We want them to be treated in a lawful manner. These are circumstances that have occurred that certainly [were] out of our control, and we’re not in a position at this point to say that we’re not going to follow the law.”
County leaders, including Demings — former OPD chief and Orange County sheriff — have argued their hands are tied by state and federal law. The Trump administration has swiftly unrolled efforts to follow through with President Trump’s campaign promise of the “largest deportation operation in American history” following his reentry to the White House in January.
Just two of the six Orange County commissioners last month — Semrad and Nicole Wilson — voted against entering into the 287(g) agreement with ICE. Under that agreement, ICE agents and other authorized law enforcement officers are permitted to detain immigrants they accuse of being in the county illegally in the county jail.
Prior to a February 2025 memorandum of agreement announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis between ICE and the state, entering into the 287(g) was voluntary. Now it’s not.
Orange County corrections chief Louis Quinones Jr. confirmed to county leaders Tuesday afternoon that the current number of immigrants detained in jail by ICE is the “highest we have seen in quite some time.”
The Orange County Jail was holding 216 people detained by ICE as of Tuesday morning, Quinones shared. Most — 180 people — were detained after being picked up by ICE on local criminal charges.
But three dozen were detained outside Orange County — in Osceola or Seminole — on no criminal charges other than an accusation that they were in the country illegally and brought to the Orange County Jail. Quinones said they expected to receive at least 20 new detainees each day for at least the next five days.
“Yesterday alone, they brought in 20 inmates that had no local charges, and we are projecting to get 20 for the next five days,” he said.
Several county commissioners were alarmed by this, citing in part fiscal concerns. Quinones confirmed it costs the county $145 per day to detain one person under ICE, and the federal agency itself only reimburses the county for $88 for each person.
“They have essentially commandeered a certain number of our staff members, and we have, whether it’s a dozen, two dozen, three dozen, four dozen individuals. We don’t know [if] they did anything wrong, other than potentially not have the right papers with them … currently sitting in our prison?” asked Wilson.
“Yes,” Quinones confirmed, shortly. “ICE is bringing those individuals to us and we’re holding them,” he continued. “We don’t know what they’ve done that would afford ICE that opportunity to bring them to us. We’re just housing them overnight, is what we’re doing, until they go to another facility.”
Quinones added that the county is currently in negotiations with ICE to increase their reimbursement rate for people detained in the local jail. No clear answer was provided for why people from other parts of Central Florida are being shepherded to Orange County for temporary detention.
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Access to resources
Ensuring due process and access to legal resources for people detained by ICE was a key ask of advocates who showed up to the board of county commissioner’s meeting Tuesday.
Several brought up concerns about data transparency — sharing that families are currently struggling to even find out if their loved one has been detained by ICE, and if they have, where they’re sent afterward upon their release or transfer.
“Speaking on behalf of a sister-in-law of someone deported for not having a driver’s license, my brother-in-law was transferred so quickly, we didn’t know where he had gone,” said Salvadore Rosas, a youth organizer for the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka. “He didn’t remember his mother’s phone number, so he couldn’t call for family.”
Chief Quinones said that, at least in Orange County, those detained should be provided access to their own phones as needed in order to retrieve a phone number they don’t remember. Still, the county is limited in what information it can provide loved ones who call the jail, due to privacy regulations under federal law.
“I can only give you a response from the correctional side, and what we are doing is we’re providing these individuals that come into our custody with access to telephones to call their loved ones, to text message their loved ones and … they have access to a flyer that lets them know what their rights are,” Quinones explained. “So from a detention facility standpoint, I believe we’re doing as much as we can.”
Several county commissioners — including commissioners Wilson, Semrad, Mayra Uribe and Michael Scott — urged the county corrections department to ensure rights flyers are available in a variety of languages.
Several also brought up creating a list of legal resources, or other local nonprofit immigrant rights organizations, that corrections staff could also provide to those detained.
“Do we not have a mechanism to at least empower these people with knowledge of what’s going on?” asked Uribe.
The answer was less than reassuring.
“To be totally honest with you, there are some of our staff that are not aware of the federal process,” admitted Chief Quinones. “We’re putting our staff in a touchy situation when we’re not familiar with what happens with the federal process.”
Demings similarly emphasized the need to ensure any information provided to those being detained on account of their legal status “comports to federal law.”
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“People are being disappeared every single day”
Demings admitted that, based on information provided by Quinones, it appears that ICE “is very active” in Central Florida — a statement Quinones didn’t deny.
According to the corrections chief, Orange County sheriff’s deputies aren’t going out and arresting people they suspect of being undocumented to be placed in ICE custody.
Those detained in the jail, accused of being in the country illegally, are being brought into the jail by federal ICE agents, the Florida Highway Patrol or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
For many, the raids — or mere fear of being targeted by federal agents — hits close to home. According to federal census data, roughly one-quarter of Orange County’s population is foreign-born. That includes many locals who are contributing to the state economy by working in the region’s hospitality, tourism, construction and agricultural industries.
During the public comment period, Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, executive director of Hope CommUnity Center and candidate for the Florida House, shared the story of one local woman who “lost her children” because her husband was detained by ICE. “This is happening in our community,” said Sousa-Lazaballet. “People are being disappeared every single day.”
At least two men from Venezuela who entered the U.S. with permission — 32-year-old Ricardo Prada Vásquez and 27-year-old Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel — appear to have disappeared after being detained by immigration authorities, according to reporting from the New York Times and Miami Herald. Their families, unaware of their whereabouts, are demanding answers.
“Give every detainee a fact sheet in their language with their rights, the number of public defender’s office, and a list of legal resources,” Sousa-Lazaballet urged. “It’s a small step, but it could save someone’s life.”
Salvatore Vieira, with Equality Florida, brought up concerns about LGBTQ+ immigrants in particular who may have fled countries that are hostile to LGBT+ people.
“LGBTQ+ immigrants seeking asylum have consistently encountered barriers to having their cases fairly evaluated, often facing deportation to countries where their lives are threatened,” Vieria said. “Today, you have the freedom to take bold actions to guarantee due process to those detained.”
No formal action was taken by the Orange County board of commissioners Tuesday afternoon, despite efforts by Semrad (and Wilson, who initially supported looking into drafting a trigger resolution).
After a nearly two-hour work session on the issue, featuring a presentation from the corrections department and discussion, Demings stated simply, “We’ve heard enough on this issue.”
“We’re gonna move to the [next] agenda item at this point, OK? Took a lot of time there.”
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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2025.
