immigrants

More than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children across the U.S., including hundreds in South Florida, could be forced to navigate the complex U.S. immigration court system without an attorney or legal advisor after federal funding ended Friday, warns the Miami-based Americans for Immigrant Justice.

The nationwide day of action follows two high-profile, fatal ICE-related shootings earlier this month.

Spouses are left with debt and the responsibility of being the sole breadwinner after their partners are detained or deported.

Jamaica is discussing with the United States the acceptance of third-country deportees. Jamaica's National Security Minister confirmed a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the U.S.

DHS officials did not say how many detainees were transferred or where they were taken. Nor did it say whether the facility would close permanently or only temporarily.

Following a state-approved visit Tuesday to Alligator Alcatraz, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat from Orlando, said he wants state and federal officials to disclose where remaining immigrant detainees are being transferred amid reported plans to permanently close the detention facility.

"Hands Across America 2.0 is about bringing communities together to stand united to save our democracy, support our immigrant neighbors, and show that the will of the people still matters," Myra Kremenitzer, head of Indivisible Boca Raton, said in a statement announcing Monday’s planned protest.

It’s the first installment of the $608 million FEMA grant Florida’s been waiting for since the detention center opened last summer.

The rally is in response to the latest reports that show the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants has surged since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

At least 46 people under ICE custody have died since the start of President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2025, according to a count by The Associated Press. ICE officials have reported 18 deaths since the start of the fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2025.

"To be housing ICE detainees in a detention camp in the middle of the Everglades … without making sure that they have enough access to nutritious food and the ability to sleep and have access to counsel — everything about this screams inhumane and unnecessary," U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, told reporters.

State officials say they will try to root out abuses in the H-1B program during the moratorium, but can make exceptions if they find a critical need for workers.