ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to amend its existing agreement related to the housing of federal inmates at the Orange County Jail, capping the length of time in which immigrant detainees who are picked up by ICE can be held at the jail.
The county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with the U.S. Marshals Service garnered fresh scrutiny last year, when immigration advocates urged the county to remove ICE from the agreement.
Orange County and the U.S. Marshals Service first entered into the IGSA in 1983. The agreement allows federal inmates to be housed at the jail.
In 2011, ICE joined the agreement, meaning that people who are facing civil immigration charges could be held at the jail up to 72 hours.
In exchange for housing the inmates, the county has been reimbursed by the federal government $88/day per inmate. The cost to house an inmate at the jail, though, is $180/day.
Last year, however, amid growing concerns from immigration advocates, the county initiated new negotiations with the U.S. Marshals Service over the agreement.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, county staff delivered a presentation about the results of the negotiations, which ended with the U.S. Marshals Service offering a new reimbursement rate of $125/day.
Commissioners voted to accept the new terms of the IGSA, while excluding ICE from the agreement.
Federal inmates charged with criminal offenses will still be housed at the jail.
“This is what we’ve been asking for since May Day of last year,” said Ericka Gomez-Tejeda of the Hope CommUnity Center.
Gomez-Tejeda was one of dozens of people who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period to urge commissioners to push ICE out of the IGSA. Following the vote, she called the decision a “bold next step.”
“We feel heard,” Gomez-Tejeda said. “We feel that we have, through their leadership, won more due process protections for our community and are stepping out of being an ICE hub.”
Although ICE is no longer party to the agreement, Florida law dictates that county correctional facilities temporarily house immigrant detainees.
Given its legal obligations, Orange County is now beholden to a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA). The BOA caps the amount of time an immigrant detainee without criminal charges can be held at the jail at 48 hours--down from 72 hours.
Florida statute also requires counties to use their “best efforts” to support federal immigration enforcement.
After the meeting, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings told reporters he is not ruling out a lawsuit that would seek to clarify what constitutes “best efforts” under the law.
News 6’s Mike Valente asked Demings if he thinks the statute that mentions “best efforts” is flawed.
“I think that I’ve been very deliberate in trying to answer the question whether or not we have utilized our best efforts,” Demings said. “And that is something that the statute really did not clearly define, but through the processes that we have gone through at the end of the day, I have already answered that question.”
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