AI Justice Applauds ICE’s Decision To Put Brakes On South Florida Detention Center

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Romy Lerner: (305) 905-2247
Susana Barciela: (305) 301-9762

NEWS RELEASE
June 18, 2012 – Following numerous protests and sustained outcries from community members, local officials, immigrant rights advocates and many other concerned citizens, ICE announced late Friday that it would abandon its plan to build a new immigration detention center in Southwest Ranches, Broward County. The facility was to be built by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a private prison contractor that profits by partnering with the federal government to detain immigrants across the country.

According to its statement, “ICE has reevaluated its need for an additional detention facility in South Florida and has decided that it will no longer pursue a facility in the Town of Southwest Ranches,” a small town in Broward County largely surrounded by the City of Pembroke Pines. In the months preceding Friday’s announcement, community members and advocacy organizations mounted protests and increasingly voiced objections to the building of the facility.

In November 2011, Florida Legal Services, a legal service organization representing the Florida Immigrant Coalition, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) challenging whether the plans for the new detention center complied with federal environmental laws. Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice) joined in later correspondence demanding an environmental review.

ICE currently has more than 2,000 detention beds in Florida. The federal government detains approximately 400,000 individuals in immigration detention centers each year[i]. Among these detainees are lawful permanent residents, asylum seekers, children, individuals with mental illnesses, and in some cases, United States citizens.

“What we need is a focus on alternatives to detention — not more beds to warehouse men and women accused only of violating civil immigration laws, said Romy Lerner, AI Justice Detention Supervising Attorney. “We hope ICE’s decision to abandon Southwest Ranches signals a move toward this goal.”