Thread: Overcrowding at Miami Detention Center for Illegals

This just shows two things; first of all illegals are getting caught here and secondly the court system for deportation hearings has to catch up. It is the minorities like Hatians and Jamaicans complaining in this article but then the majority of the people they are with are Hispanics and it seems that the racial tension is brewing there as well.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 252825.htm

Posted on Sat, Dec. 16, 2006email thisprint thisreprint or license this
KROME DETENTION CENTER
Overcrowding, delays fuel tensions at Krome againOvercrowding and deportation delays upset detainees at Krome where anger and boredom sometimes combine to raise tensions.
BY CASEY WOODS, NICOLE WHITE AND ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
Tensions appear to be rising again at the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade, prompting a senior federal immigration official -- escorted by riot-equipped officers -- to meet with angry detainees recently at the overcrowded facility.

Michael Rozos, field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Florida office of detention and removal, went to a Krome dormitory Dec. 8 accompanied by a ''disturbance control team'' and spoke to the detainees, said agency spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez. She said team members were ``dressed appropriately.''

The episode was the most serious at the facility since it began to experience overcrowding conditions in the summer. In a separate incident, two detainees fought in another dormitory on the same day Haitian and Jamaican detainees refused to leave their dormitory to protest delays in travel papers from their consulates so they can be deported, according to immigration officials. It was the episode involving the Haitians and Jamaicans that brought Rozos to the Krome dormitory.

A Haitian detainee and a Miami immigrant rights activist said the root cause was continuing overcrowding at Krome whose publicly-stated capacity of about 580 detainees has been exceeded for months. The Haitian detainee, who asked that his name not be published for fear it might jeopardize his case, estimated the current Krome population at more than 1,000.

Gonzalez said Thursday the number of detainees at Krome was 927. Gonzalez added that 120 will be transferred elsewhere Tuesday and 50 others will be deported soon.

In late September, dozens of detainees signed a letter to The Miami Herald complaining about conditions. Another group of 255 detainees complained about overcrowding in November.

''The campus is overcrowded like sardines,'' the November letter said, adding that the packed facility was ``causing a lot of tension that leads to confrontations, unsanitary dorm, showers, and clogged toilets . . .'

Ralph Latortue, the Haitian consul in Miami, went to Krome Wednesday for his annual holiday visit with Haitian detainees and heard complaints.

Latortue told The Miami Herald that 60 of the 83 Haitians at Krome complained of mistreatment, lack of medical attention and overcrowding. He said some of the detainees, particularly those with criminal records, complained about delays in travel documents so they can be deported to Haiti.

Under current Haitian government regulations, he said, Haitians with criminal records can receive travel documents to reenter Haiti only if authorities in Port-au-Prince approve the return, which can take months. Latortue said 75 percent of the 83 Haitians at Krome have criminal records.

Haitians without criminal records, he said, receive travel papers directly from the consulate within days.

Latortue said that during his meeting at Krome, some of the Haitian detainees told him about an incident last Friday that involved an ``altercation with guards.''

At least two detainees who were witnesses told a Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center lawyer that a guard pushed and ''punched'' a detainee, as other agitated detainees watched, according to Cheryl Little, the group's executive director.

Gonzalez said that though the dormitory protest was largely peaceful, an allegation was later made ''against a guard.'' She had no details.

''We take all allegations very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated and appropriate action will be taken,'' Gonzalez said.

She said the Haitian and Jamaican detainees expressed frustrations without violence -- largely refusing to leave their pod or dormitory to take meals.

Gonzalez said all detainees in that dormitory have criminal records and some are ``sex offenders, murderers, the most egregious offenders.''

The detainees voiced frustration at the delay in travel papers, though some also talked ''about the amount of people at Krome,'' she said.

A worker at the facility who asked not to be identified because the worker did not have authorization to speak on the matter said guards interrupted some immigration court proceedings during the episode.

In a separate dormitory two detainees became involved in a fight. Gonzalez said one of the detainees was sent to a special holding unit and the other to the infirmary with minor injuries.

''There was an altercation between two detainees, but it was not related to the pod where the Haitians and Jamaicans were expressing their frustration,'' said Gonzalez.

Ricardo Allicock, the Jamaican consul, visited Krome on Monday to meet with the more than 50 Jamaican detainees. Allicock said many of the detainees were frustrated that they would not spend the holidays with their families back home because they have yet to be deported.

''Their main concern is that Christmas approaches and they would like to go home,'' he said. ``Everyone that's been detained at Krome, including Jamaicans, would like to get moving. Sooner than later.''

The majority of the Jamaicans there have been waiting to be deported less than two months, he said. Allicock said he understood there was a longer process for those with criminal records.

Little and a Haitian detainee attributed the tense atmosphere to crowded conditions.

''There are just too many people here right now,'' the detainee said. ``We all are just desperate to get out.''

Said Little: ``People are very unhappy because folks are not being released and it's becoming more and more overcrowded. It's getting dirty inside, and people are getting ill because of it.''

Little said one of her lawyers went to Krome Dec. 8 and was told by a guard that there was a ''riot'' and that the facility was in ``lockdown.''

''[The lawyer] was told that the he couldn't go in, and that he better check before coming over the weekend because it might still be in lockdown,'' Little said.

Gonzalez said there was no lockdown. Visiting hours proceeded normally last weekend.


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Miami Herald staff writer Gladys Amador contributed to this report.

Gee, I feel really awful for them....

Sounds like a 3rd world country to me.

Originally Posted by magyart

Sounds like a 3rd world country to me.

No sympathy here! Why haven't they been removed yet from American soil back to country of origin?

Originally Posted by magyart

Sounds like a 3rd world country to me.

Right on!

Nice to know it is no picnic while they wait to be deported......perhaps they will stay gone..............