Miami-Dade mayor asks for tour of Krome detention center as overcrowding strains facility

Syra Ortiz Blanes and Claire Healy, Miami Herald on Apr 4, 2025

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MIAMI — The mayor of Miami-Dade County is asking the Trump administration to let South Florida officials visit the Krome Detention Center, after the Miami Herald and other outlets reported that immigrants are being housed at the facility in overcrowded and unsafe conditions.

“Some of the immigrants now being held in federal facilities, detained indefinitely without a clear process, include green card holders and long-standing members of our community who were contributing to our economy, supporting their families and paying taxes,” Daniella Levine Cava wrote in an April 3 letter to Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, saying she is deeply worried about what’s happening at detention center in western Miami-Dade near the Everglades.

The request follows reports about how the high numbers of detainees are affecting conditions at the center as President Donald Trump launches a mass deportation campaign in South Florida and across the country.

Several former detainees, as well as their lawyers and loved ones, told the Herald that immigrants have been kept in small crowded rooms, unable to shower for days and with delayed access to needed medical care. Women, who for years have not been kept at Krome beyond a short time for processing, said they spent so many hours chained on buses that some were urinating on themselves.

Levine Cava acknowledged the need for federal immigration enforcement as well as the county’s longstanding role as a community that has long become a home for immigrants fleeing instability in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Since I was elected mayor, I have worked to make Miami-Dade one of the safest major metropolitan areas in the country where laws are enforced and criminals are held accountable, while families fleeing dictatorship are welcomed and made to feel safe,’ wrote the mayor.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement after the Herald inquired about overcrowding at Krome that “due to recent increases in detention populations, some ICE facilities are experiencing temporary overcrowding” and that the agency took the reports seriously and was working to address capacity issues. ICE facilities must follow stringent government regulations meant to ensure detainees’ health and well being and prevent abuse.

“With the increase in the numbers of immigrants detained at Krome and across the country, it is vital that we ensure humane conditions for the thousands of people in detention – a growing number of whom have no criminal record,” the mayor wrote.