MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, made another South Florida stop Monday amid the immigration crackdown –- this time to tour Miami-Dade’s Krome Detention Center.
Earlier this month, a group of detainees dressed in white, who were spotted at the federal detention center’s outdoor basketball court, near the Florida Everglades, formed a human “SOS” distress signal. Others were dressed in yellow and formed a human “Libre” – or “Free” – sign.
The plea for help came amid reports of overcrowding and transfers of ICE detainees to other federal jails.
“Most of the folks, most of the men – because they’re all men in there -- at the end will be deported. Some of them do get to stay,” Gimenez told reporters.
The Republican congressman from Miami spoke to detainees at the detention center Monday, telling reporters that he told them this:
“‘We have to urinate on the floor.’ ‘Why do you have to urinate on the floor? There’s a bathroom, there’s a toilet right there.’ ‘Well, I haven’t taken a bath in five days.’ ‘Well, how come? Because there’s showers here -- right here,’” Gimenez said.
Gimenez announced his visit to officials at the detention center prior to arriving.
“He let them know he was coming. It gave ICE officials an opportunity to totally sanitize the facilities,” Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, said.
The congresswoman disagrees with his approach, saying her recent visit wasn’t planned and what she saw was very different, describing the conditions as deplorable.
“In the pre-clearance area, you have dozens of men crammed into a very tiny space where they’re sleeping, eating, defecating, urinating, including sleeping on the floor,” she said.
Gimenez said the facility is at capacity with 1,000 detainees. While he currently does not have any plans to return to Krome, he said he will revisit the facility if more questions and concerns arise.