Suit Challenges Florida’s Authority To Detain Migrants Under 287(g)

The complaint, filed in the Middle District of Florida, says the INA does not authorize state agencies to detain immigrants during the federal removal process and that Florida’s facility is operating outside the statute’s strict guardrails. According to the suit, detainees at the camp have gone without initial custody and bond determinations, don’t appear in ICE’s public locator, and—until recently—couldn’t even file bond petitions or attend hearings. That, the filing says, isn’t a paperwork glitch; it’s a symptom of “clear lack of authority at the heart of the facility’s operations.”

M.A. has lived in the U.S. since 2018, is married to a U.S. citizen, and helps raise five U.S. citizen stepchildren, the suit says. He entered on a visa, applied for asylum, and holds a work permit, Social Security card, and driver’s license. He was arrested outside his home on July 23 and, by July 26, was confined at the Everglades camp. There, officers allegedly pressured him to sign a voluntary removal form written in English that was never translated. “M.A. had no intention of agreeing to removal,” the complaint adds. “He wants to stay in the United States with his wife and stepchildren and finish pursuing his asylum application.” The filing also says that while he could walk before detention, he now uses a wheelchair and has twice been hospitalized in a month.