Annett Uset-Dumont stood outside the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami Wednesday afternoon, alongside two other wives of immigrant detainees, waving signs in Spanish that read "NOSOTRAS ESTAMOS AQUI" (We Are Here).
Towards the top of the detention center, the word “HELP” in capital letters was pasted in a narrow slit window. From the opposite side of the tower, a white handkerchief waved back at the three women.
Uset-Dumont and the others, and immigrant advocates, were protesting what they say is an overcrowded federal facility operating under inhumane conditions.
Uset-Dumont said her husband, Daikel Dumont Rodriguez, has told her that the facility's food supply is infested with cockroaches and that dozens of detainees have no access to clean, potable water or medications. He also told her that the air conditioning is broken, forcing detainees to sleep in sweltering rooms.
“There's no potable water. They have to drink out of their sinks. Their bathrooms don't work. There's no hygiene at all. It's just inhumane,” Uset-Dumont.
She has not been able to reach him since Sunday, and was told by his fellow detainees that he was placed in solitary confinement. She says that no one has told her or fellow detainees why. She added he’s been in federal custody for months and been in FDC for three weeks.
WLRN could not verify the specific federal charges Dumont Rodriguez was being held in custody.
READ MORE: Rights groups: 'Abusive, degrading' conditions exist at South Florida immigrant detention centers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, can legally keep detainees in solitary confinement for up to 30 days. Uset-Dumont is not sure when she will hear from her husband again.
She was among three women whose family members have been detained and held at the Federal Detention Center, and all three described horrific conditions at the facility.
ICE and the Bureau of Prisons, which manages the facility, did not respond for comment to WLRN.
Wednesday’s press conference was organized by South Florida immigrant advocates who wanted to call attention to the disturbing stories coming out of the center.
They are all calling on members of Congress to use their power to investigate conditions inside the Federal Detention Center, end the retaliation against detainees who speak out and assure families that their relatives' rights are protected.
“They are being held in overcrowded, inhumane conditions without independent oversight,” Maria Bilbao from American Friends Service Committee, said in a statement. “We call on all elected officials to act immediately. They must demand access to these facilities, investigate the conditions, and ensure accountability.”
Alexandra Orellana, the South Florida Organizer with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said dozens of immigrants who were being held at Alligator Alcatraz are now being detained at the detention center in Miami. Alligator Alcatraz was permanently closed last month by state officials.
“Closing Alligator Alcatraz and merely shifting people previously held there into another nightmareish detention facility is unacceptable and a direct result of the incompetent and indiscriminate enforcement operations taking place right now under the Trump administration,” Orellana said.
Uset-Dumont said she’s not only speaking out in defense of her husband but for the other immigrants inside the facility who may not feel safe doing so.
"I'm raising my voice for everybody else who's in there, whose wives and kids are at home suffering, and they don't have any [immigration] papers and they're scared," she said.
She said her husband’s arrest by ICE agents has been traumatic for her family.
The couple's four-year-old son, she said, witnessed his father’s arrest at home in Vero Beach. Uset-Dumont says the event has taken a significant emotional toll on their child.
"He's had emotional and behavioral issues, so he's going to therapy for that. And he has separation anxiety," Uset-Dumont told WLRN. "I can't go anywhere where he sees me leave because he will cry, ‘No, Mommy, don't leave me like Daddy did. Mommy, don't leave me.’"
She said her husband has already missed both her and their son’s birthdays, and is hoping he will be freed next month for his 37th birthday.
finally make an inspection.
