Whistleblower report shows "horrific" conditions inside Florida ICE facilities, including Miramar
A new whistleblower report is detailing conditions inside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Miramar, and now lawmakers are demanding answers from the Trump Administration.
Members of the House Oversight Committee released the report, which included explicit photos of what conditions look like inside.
Members say the facility is so packed that it's held over six times its maximum capacity.
House Democrats claim that the Trump Administration is creating dangerous conditions and lawless practices at the ICE facility in Miramar, and another in Orlando.
"Whistleblowers have shared explosive new information with Oversight Democrats about the horrific conditions inside ICE facilities in Florida," Rep. Robert Garcia said in a statement. "The Trump Administration is trying to cover up these disgusting and unsafe conditions and escape accountability, while countless lives are put in danger. ICE must immediately put an end to this inhumane treatment and give us answers on this horrific situation."
Photos show what whistleblowers say are detainees brushing their teeth outside with water from a hose attached to a jug.
The photos also show overflowing porta-potties being used by hundreds of people. According to the report, there are four of the porta-potties outside of the facility.
"Trump's immigration detention system is as cruel as it is unnecessary, and this administration's deliberate efforts to hide the conditions inside ICE facilities in Miramar and Orlando, Florida, are abhorrent," Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost said in a statement. "This new whistleblower report reinforces what has long been documented about immigration detention facilities – a system being used to punish people rather than uphold basic human dignity and justice. Alongside my colleagues on the Oversight Committee, I'm demanding accountability and an end to these horrific abuses that are putting lives in danger."
Other photos show crowded conditions inside the Miramar ICE facility, and the report details that detainees have been sleeping on the ground.
The whistleblowers claim that the detainees are being abused by placing them, including elderly and sick people, in life-threatening conditions like overcrowding, prolonged shackling, lack of proper access to proper medical care or hygiene.
CBS News Miami has reached out to ICE for comment on the latest report and the allegations made about this facility and is waiting to hear back.