ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Democrats are opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operating in Central Florida and potentially opening a detention facility in Orlando.
“Democrats have long stood on the front lines of the fights for civil rights,” Jarred Cornell, Interim Chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, said.
The opposition comes after News 6 confirmed that ICE toured a warehouse on Transport Drive as a possible detention site. This follows reports of ICE booking up to 200 hotel rooms across Central Florida.
The warehouse under consideration, which is located in southeast Orange County, east of the interchange between State Road 528 and State Road 417, falls within Orlando’s jurisdiction.
Mayor Buddy Dyer addressed the possible facility on Wednesday while at an event in Downtown Orlando.
“I’ve heard nothing from rumors, nothing official from, we’ve not even been contacted by ICE in an official way,” he told News 6. “I’m not going to speculate the possibilities, but I will say we’re doing all of our legal research.”
Meanwhile, Orange County Democrats gathered to share their opposition to ICE’s plans and called on the community to join their efforts.
“We have started a robust coalition called ‘Immigrants are welcome here coalition,’” Dreamer and candidate for Florida House District 42 Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet said. “I want to remind everybody; we still have the constitution of the United States behind us and we have first amendment that gives us the right to assemble against our government.”
Under a current agreement between Orange County and the federal government, undocumented immigrant detainees without criminal charges can be housed in Orange County Jail for up to 72 hours before they are turned over to the custody of ICE.
As of Friday, Jan. 16, there were 831 bookings in the Orange County jail with immigration holds, according to a county spokesperson, who noted that “there has been a significant number of re-bookings.”"