ICE's Miramar Sub Office, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Florida designed to hold no more than 50 people held as many as 342 at once, according to whistleblower allegations released Monday by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Photos provided by an unidentified whistleblower (drive to images in this link - viewer discretion advised) show detainees sleeping on the floor and on rows of cots, overflowing portable toilets and people brushing their teeth outside with a hose, according to the Miami Herald. The congressional Democrats said detainees have also been forced to sleep while shackled and that some elderly people remained restrained for up to 16 hours a day.
The lawmakers said holding cells were operating at 200% to 300% of capacity and that, at times, only three officers were responsible for more than 300 detainees. Toilets were allegedly clogged and leaking into holding areas, while detainees lacked adequate access to clean clothing, soap and other hygiene products.
The committee announced an investigation into conditions at the Miramar facility and another ICE site in Orlando. At the Orlando facility, whistleblowers alleged detainees were sometimes kept indoors without fresh air for two weeks, remained shackled throughout the day and encountered black mold in air vents.
The disclosures follow recent scrutiny of other Florida immigration detention facilities. A Department of Homeland Security inspector general...
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