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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims to have an administrative exemption that allows it to detain individuals for up to 72 hours at its processing center in Miramar, north of Miami, but multiple testimonies gathered this Saturday by Telemundo indicate that detentions often extend for days, in some cases up to ten, under conditions that family members, activists, and lawmakers describe as inhumane.
The facility was originally designed for short-term administrative procedures and immigration appointments, but it has turned into a temporary detention center due to capacity collapse in South Florida, according to an investigation by El País.
The Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz conducted a surprise inspection at the center on July 3 and found more than 150 people spread across four rooms without beds, privacy, or access to lawyers or family visits.
"What I witnessed were people crammed in like sardines, in conditions I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," the legislator declared at a press conference.
According to his account, between 70 and 75 men remained in a space of 24 by 24 feet, while more than 50 women shared a room of 12 by 12 feet. They all slept on the concrete floor with only thermal blankets, with a single toilet without partitions for the room.
Family members of detainees reported to Telemundo that the migrants were overcrowded with another 220 people and unable to sit down.
Daily rations are limited to a bottle of water and individual meals of 214 grams, and detainees are only allowed to shower every two days, according to observations made during the legislative inspection.
Among those affected are Cubans, Salvadorans, and Hondurans, many of whom have valid humanitarian permits and pending asylum applications.
Marco Rodríguez, a 36-year-old Venezuelan, was arrested on June 28 during a routine appointment he had been attending for five years; he spent three days in a room with 70 other people and a single toilet.
Roger Moisés Flores Oviedo, a 19-year-old Honduran with a pending asylum application, was arrested after leaving a gas station in Pompano Beach.
His wife, Koren Noblig, reported that the agents "put him in a van and took him to Miramar, where they placed him with about 50 other men in a room, many wearing work clothes and shoes, sitting on the floor with their hands behind their backs."
Elsa's husband, a Salvadoran immigrant with humanitarian permission and American citizen children — one with a heart condition — reported to Univision: "It's been almost ten days, they have given her food three times in ten days."
The collapse in Miramar was exacerbated by the closure of the Alligator Alcatraz center in the Everglades in June, whose population of up to 1,400 detainees was redistributed without prior notice, and by the evacuations from the Krome center due to wildfires.
Activists from the American Friends Service Committee reported counting more than 30 vehicles without identification dropping off people in a single day in Miramar.
The detentions of Cubans by ICE in Florida increased by 463% between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2026, and 15 out of 45 major ICE detention centers have been operating for over a year without meeting adequate standards, according to a report from this month.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security rejected all accusations, stating that "any claim that there are inadequate conditions in ICE detention centers is FALSE."
He also stated that remaining in custody is "a choice" and encouraged migrants to use the CBP Home app for self-deportation.
Wasserman Schultz announced that she will continue to oversee the operations of the ICE office in South Florida and will push for measures to enforce greater oversight of these facilities.
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