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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ordered the evacuation of the Krome Service Processing Center, located at 18201 SW 12th St., in western Miami-Dade County, due to the advance of several wildfires that have consumed at least 22,157 acres in the area, as the agency confirmed in a written statement.
"ICE began the evacuation of the Krome Service Processing Center due to wildfires occurring in the vicinity of the detention center," the federal agency stated.
The detainees were transferred to other ICE facilities both within and outside the state of Florida, without the agency specifying the total number of affected migrants or their identities.
The fires closest to the facility are referred to as Corrections and Quarry 2, according to monitoring maps from the Florida Forest Service. The Corrections fire, located south of 8th Street and west of Krome Avenue, had burned between 305 and 330 acres and was only 15% contained as of June 21.
The Quarry 2 fire, the largest of the three active outbreaks, started on June 16 and has consumed approximately 19,000 acres, although it was 97% contained by June 20. A third fire, the Well Fire, emerged on June 17 and affected 1,425 acres with 70% containment.
The emergency also led to the closure of Krome Avenue in both directions between Okeechobee Road and Tamiami Trail, the evacuation of about 200 residents from the Jones Fish Camp —who were allowed to return on June 21— and an air quality alert issued by the National Weather Service for areas such as Doral, Sweetwater, and Westchester.
ICE assured that the evacuation took place in an orderly manner and without incidents. "ICE considers the health and safety of individuals in its custody as one of its top priorities," the agency stated, adding that it will continue to coordinate with the Florida Forest Service to monitor the progression of the fires.
Among those transferred is former Ecuadorian Interior Minister, José Serrano, who had been detained at Krome since August 2025 and was sent this Tuesday to the Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi, according to reports from El Diario NY.
The Krome Center has been operating since 1980 and was originally designed to house Cuban and Haitian refugees, with a capacity for around 600 people. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the detained population at Krome has surged to nearly 1,700 individuals —almost triple its capacity— leading to complaints of overcrowding, lack of medical care, and inhumane treatment. In 2025, four people died while in custody at the facility.
The 2026 wildfire season in Florida is considered the most active in over a decade. Since January, more than 1,916 fires have burned approximately 120,000 acres across the state, against a backdrop of extreme drought where over 70% of the territory reports precipitation 50% below average since September 2025.
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