Amid public protests and media reports of the mistreatment of immigrants at the Krome North Service Processing Center, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, is demanding that a top Trump administration official giver her access to the facility in Miami-Dade.
“I have heard directly from immigration lawyers about the unacceptable conditions at Krome, including reports of individuals sleeping on the concrete floor, detainees being deprived of adequate food, and female detainees being held in a facility designated for men,” wrote Wilson in her letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“These alarming accounts illustrate the urgent need for me to exercise my duty of congressional oversight and intervention,” she said. “It is imperative that Congress gains firsthand insight into the facility's operations to address these serious concerns and ensure that the rights and dignity of individuals in detention are upheld.
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“I fully support lawful detention and the enforcement of the law; however, this is balanced by the need to ensure that people who are in government custody are not treated inhumanely, no matter the circumstance.”
Wilson previously visited the Krome facility in 2019 to witness how migrant teenagers under the first Trump administration were being treated by federal immigration authorities.
Sui Chung, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, said Krome has had a long controversial history dating back four decades but that what’s happening now is “almost unprecedented.”
In a recent interview on WLRN’s South Florida Roundup, she said she’s especially worried about reports that women are now being housed in the facility.
“Women have not been housed at Krome for many decades,” she said. “We don't know what the conditions are for women and given Krome's horrific history and the history of medical neglect, sexual abuse, and the poor conditions — this is really alarming.”
“I have heard directly from immigration lawyers about the unacceptable conditions at Krome, including reports of individuals sleeping on the concrete floor, detainees being deprived of adequate food, and female detainees being held in a facility designated for men."U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens
An ICE spokesperson told CBS4 in a statement that “it is not uncommon for female detainees to be staged at Krome.”
“This happens as the agency works on transferring the female detainees to another detention center or while they are waiting for their removal flight," the spokesperson said. "During the staging process, female detainees are not placed into the general population, thus male detainees to do not have access to female detainees."
The spotlight on Krome comes only weeks after four women told USA Today that they were held there "like animals" and subjected to conditions “so extreme they feared for their lives.” None of the women had a criminal background.
The women spoke to the national media outlet without disclosing their names in fear of retaliation by ICE authorities.
Two Krome detainees have also died in custody in recent months, according to ICE. Genry Ruiz Guillen, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, died Jan. 23. The other undocumented immigrant was Maksym Chernyak, 44, of Ukraine, who died Feb. 20.
In a statement to USA Today, ICE officials said the agency “takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”
“These allegations are not in keeping with ICE policies, practices and standards of care,” ICE officials added.
Trump’s deportation program remains popular with a majority of Americans, according a recent CBS News poll. It found 58% approved compared to 42% who disapproved.
Since taking office in January, Trump has carried out an aggressive immigration agenda, including a campaign pledge of mass deportations and to close U.S. borders to what he describes as being "under invasion" from undocumented migrants.
In early March, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, reported nearly 33,000 arrests nationwide of suspected undocumented immigrants in Trump's first 50 days in office, noting it was the same number arrested in the entire previous fiscal year.
"We will see the number of deportations continue to rise," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. "And illegal immigrants have the option to self-deport and come back LEGALLY in the future."
