Is DHS/ICE opening a detention facility in Orlando? Leaders condemn reported plans

ORLANDO, Fla. - Is United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) looking to open a detention facility in the Orlando area?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was looking at opening more detention facilities in Florida, specifically mentioning potential locations in North Florida, Central Florida, and South Florida. He said no sites had been confirmed and that DHS and reimbursement costs would still have to be figured out. 

However, DeSantis said Florida was committed to helping with immigration enforcement.

Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost and Florida House Rep. Anna Eskamani issued statements on Friday against reports of an increase in ICE agents in Central Florida, as well as the possibility of a detention facility being established in Orange County.

DHS and ICE have not confirmed plans to FOX 35 regarding a specific facility in Central Florida. FOX 35 has reached out.

What we know:

Local reports claim federal officials are looking at an Orlando warehouse site as a potential location for a detainment center. 

On Jan. 16, Florida officials condemned having a detention facility in Orlando. If an ICE detention center is chosen in Orlando, it would be the first in Central Florida. 

At this time, all Florida ICE detention facilities, field centers or processing centers are located in South Florida. 

In a statement on X, Rep. Anna Eskamani said Orlando doesn't need an ICE detention facility. 

"The idea of expanding ICE detention in Orlando comes at a moment when immigration enforcement has increasingly looked like vigilante-style policing: aggressive street actions, broken windows, people dragged from cars, and even U.S. citizens being detained in the chaos and killed," Eskamani said in a Jan. 16 statement in part. 

During a Jan. 16 press conference, Rep. Maxwell Frost said, "Instead of using our money on building internment camps in our communities to put our neighbors in, why don't you do something about the fact that 25,000,000 Americans are going to have their healthcare go up anywhere from 50 to 300%." 

The backstory:

In a Jan. 5 press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the Department of Homeland Security not having the capacity to meet detainees. Under "Operation Tidal Wave," DeSantis said over 10,000 undocumented immigrants were arrested and turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. Among the 10,000, 63% had criminal arrests or convictions, including violent and sex offenders.  

Expanding Florida ICE detention centers

During the Jan. 5 press conference, DeSantis said that Florida is hoping to help DHS with capacity and has a few potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center locations in mind.

He discussed planning a "Panhandle-Pokey," which will be located in Northwest Florida, or even planning more options in Southern Florida.

Florida's Everglades detention facility, "Alligator Alcatraz", is a temporary facility, DeSantis said. Its airstrip saves time when flying people out, but they had to build a lot of temporary things in the area, he explained. 

"It’s clearly temporary. How temporary will depend on the pace that they have in terms of doing the expansion," DeSantis said. "We would anticipate that at some point they're going to up their own capacity." 

What they're saying:

Community leaders have raised concerns about ICE using an Orlando warehouse site for detainees – saying the warehouse is for goods and merchandise storage.

"Using such a space for detention would constitute a profound humanitarian failure," Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, Executive Director of the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka and candidate for House District 42, said in a released statement. "It would strip immigrants of their humanity, treating them like cargo—or worse, like cattle—rather than as people with inherent dignity, rights, and worth. Detaining individuals in a warehouse setting is not enforcement; it is dehumanization, and it stands in direct opposition to our most basic values and principles of human rights." 

Sousa-Lazaballet urged local leaders to terminate collaboration with ICE. 

"Secrecy, fear, and intimidation are not compatible with a democratic state and do not belong in this community," he said. 

Where are Florida's ICE detention centers?

In Florida, ICE's website lists five locations used as detention facilities, field centers or processing centers. 

• Baker County. Located at the former Baker Correctional Institution, the Baker County Detention Center, also dubbed the "Deportation Depot" in Sanderson opened in August 2025 and has the capacity to hold over 1,300 detainees. Ninety-three deportation flights have left the facility that's been operating for four months, DeSantis said – deporting over 2,000 individuals.
• Pompano Beach. Operated by The GEO Group, is the Broward Transition Center.
• Miami. Located in Miami is the Federal Detention Center.
• Moore Haven. Located at the Glades County Jail, is the Glades County Detention Center.
• Miami. Located west of Miami, is the Krome North Service Processing Center.

The Everglades Detention Facility, also called "Alligator Alcatraz," is located near Ochopee at the abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.