ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The number of people being held only because of their immigration status at the Orange County jail more than doubled during the month of July as Central Florida law enforcement agencies continued to ramp up their detention efforts.
Internal county figures showed the jail had an average of 79 people each day that were not charged with any other crime. In June, that number had been 32 people per day.
It’s a 3,500% increase year-over-year. Last July, the jail housed just two people per day who were held only on immigration charges. The number climbed to nine before January’s presidential transition.
When Florida began its push back in February, sheriffs from across the state assured the public that their focus was on arresting criminals, even as they admitted that even a traffic stop would get someone taken into custody.
However, while detentions of people with both immigration and criminal charges initially rose, the number has remained flat since March, hovering between 170 and 190 per day. Those people are also less likely to be moved out of the jail within 24 to 48 hours, as immigration-only detainees tend to be.
Orange County has long been the gathering spot for detainees being moved to ICE custody as one of a small number of Florida jails that had an agreement with the US Marshals office. The agreement reimburses the county $88 of the daily cost to house each ICE inmate, but $57 is picked up by county taxpayers.
In July, that meant taxpayers spent $139,239 housing inmates from across Central Florida before they were sent to The Everglades or another ICE facility.
For months, county leaders have said they were working to renegotiate their contract to raise the reimbursement rate, though there have been few updates.
Some have shrugged off the costs, both to Orange County and to the State of Florida.
“It’s all about just realizing the vision, fulfilling the mandate with what people want,” Gov. DeSantis said during a recent press conference.
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