Inside Miami federal lockup: Advocates use immigrant detainee accounts to demand change

Amid mounting reports of worsening conditions within downtown Miami’s Federal Detention Center, a Bureau of Prisons facility being used to house some immigration detainees, Florida advocacy groups are building a case for federal intervention by collecting firsthand accounts from detainees.

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Arianne Betancourt, an acitivist with the Worker’s Circle, a Jewish social justice organization, said the group has documented evidence of at least 80 instances of alleged mistreatment inside FDC Miami.

The accounts — mostly coming from relatives or detainees’ themselves — describe limited access to drinking water, inadequate medical treatment, unsanitary living spaces, extreme heat and cells holding more people than they were designed to accommodate inside the detention center.

“We’re working directly with families of the detained and the detainees to document the abuses,” Betancourt said. “We make sure that everybody else knows what we know.”

The allegations were the focus of a news conference Wednesday outside FDC Miami, where relatives joined immigrant-rights advocates demanding transparency and oversight.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told the Miami Herald that the agency would not comment on “anecdotal accusations” and that issues with air conditioning and water pressure had been quickly resolved when they emerged earlier this month.

To collect data, Betancourt said the Worker’s Circle gathers information through calls with immigrant detainees and their families. She said they send details of those accounts to government representatives, including Broward’s U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The group then sends the cases to local immigration attorneys and elected officials, including Wasserman Schultz, for them to visit detention centers unannounced.

The U.S. representatives conducted a similar visit earlier this month to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Miramar. Wasserman Schultz said the people held inside looked “shriveled and miserable.”

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Anthony Bryant, speaking on behalf of Wasserman Schultz, said the congresswoman supported an independent investigation into both the conditions and allegations.

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“Retaliation against detainees who report abuse has no place in a nation committed to the rule of law and basic human dignity,” Bryant said. “Every person in government custody retains fundamental rights, including the right to be treated humanely.”

The Workers Circle is part of a broader coalition pressing for scrutiny of FDC Miami. Representatives from the Florida Immigrant Coalition, American Friends Service Committee and Family Action Network joined Wednesday’s event, where advocates called for unannounced inspections and protections for people who report mistreatment.

The news conference and accusations come directly after reports that Alligator Alcatraz, a detention center in the Florida Everglades, has closed.

Advocates say that with the closure, more immigrant detainees are being transferred to FDC Miami, exacerbating the already questionable conditions.

Alexandra Orellana, a South Florida organizer for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said advocates are trying to prevent federal detention facilities from operating without meaningful public scrutiny.

“We cannot allow detention centers to operate in secrecy,” she said. “We cannot allow people to be transferred from facility to facility where their families struggle to find them or to find them the necessary medical care.”

Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, a policy coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, said complaints emerging from FDC Miami shouldn’t be treated as isolated allegations, pointing to similar complaints elsewhere in the state.

“These families are right to be terrified,” Mendez-Zamora said. “This is not an unfounded fear.”

Beyond documenting individual cases, the organizations are attempting to identify patterns across detention sites. Betancourt said reports from FDC Miami resemble complaints advocates have received from the Miramar field office and other facilities.

“Anytime we get a report about another inhumane and cruel action in one of these detention centers, we make sure that everybody else knows what we know,” Betancourt said.

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This story was originally published July 15, 2026 at 6:14 PM.