{"id":1403596,"date":"2026-02-04T08:01:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1403596&preview=true&preview_id=1403596"},"modified":"2026-02-04T08:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:27:24","slug":"over-our-ceiling-orange-county-jail-flooded-with-ice-detainees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/04\/over-our-ceiling-orange-county-jail-flooded-with-ice-detainees\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Over our ceiling\u2019: Florida county sees jail flooded with ICE detainees"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of ICE detainees booked into the Orange County Jail without any local criminal charges has surged more than fourfold in recent months, massively straining facility staff and creating unsafe conditions, county officials say.<\/p>\n

Many of those inmates have been there multiple times, shuffling out and back every three days in order to satisfy a technical requirement for how long they may be held. Once that happens, some inmates virtually disappear into the system and can\u2019t easily be found.<\/p>\n

The skyrocketing number of detentions contributed to rumors this month of an escalation in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Orlando<\/a>, leading Democratic congressmen Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost to issue legal guidance and advocacy groups receiving ten times the number of calls for help<\/a> from families of detainees.<\/p>\n

In October, the Orange County Jail had a daily average of 30 immigration-only detainees, but the figure has surged to more than 140 per day in January. Over the past two weeks, the average spiked to 162 per day. \u00a0On Thursday, county Public Safety Director Danny Banks said 182 people were housed in the jail solely on immigration charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already at the top of the chimney \u2013 we\u2019re over our ceiling,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI know Orange County jail can no longer continue to be their dumping port for all of their regional arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Federal authorities have also capitalized on a loophole in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract with Orange County to keep detainees there longer than the agreement was meant to allow.<\/p>\n

Under the deal, ICE can house its detainees at the jail for up to 72 hours after any local charges are settled. If they don\u2019t move them before then, those inmates are to be released.<\/p>\n

But for months, in a practice first disclosed by the Orlando Sentinel,<\/a>\u00a0ICE has picked up its detainees at the jail and brought them back hours later, restarting the 72-hour clock. Now, that practice appears to be one of the primary strains on the jail.<\/p>\n

Of the 182 ICE-only inmates at the jail on Thursday morning, 63%, or 115 of them, had been booked more than once, Banks said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The number of inmates booked into the Orange County Jail on solely immigration charges is surging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI know of one example who was with us six times,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are coming and getting them at 72 hours, and then within a day or so, they\u2019re bringing that same inmate back to us for another 72-hour stint.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the county attorney is reviewing whether such a maneuver is legal and if Orange could take action to stop it. But state law requires local officials to give their \u201cbest effort\u201d to support immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

Josephine Arroyo, an Orlando immigration attorney, said she\u2019s been unable to find some of her clients who had been booked at the jail, due to some of them being rebooked under a different identification number.<\/p>\n