The surge in detentions has overwhelmed the system, leaving facilities bursting at the seams and plagued by reports of inhumane and dire conditions. The situation has become so severe that federal prisons, including one in Miami, are now doubling as makeshift immigrant jails. Just last week, a hastily built, state-run immigrant detention camp known as "Alligator Alcatraz" began holding detainees in tents deep in the Florida Everglades — with seemingly zero federal oversight.
The rise in migrant detentions has come at a deadly price.
The Trump administration is on track to oversee one of the deadliest years for immigration detention, with at least 11 people dying in ICE custody across the United States since January.
Florida, which has emerged as a hotspot for ICE arrests and has led the nation in local ICE partnerships, has seen nearly half of all deaths in ICE's custody nationwide this year. Most recently, a 75-year-old Cuban man, who was held at Krome Detention Center and died at a local hospital while in ICE custody, and a 49-year-old Canadian man who was held at Miami's Bureau of Prisons Federal Detention Center, died within days of each other.
Here's what to know about Florida's recent deaths in ICE custody:
