Miami Krome Detention Center Detainees Spell 'SOS' with Bodies

Immigrants detained at Miami's Krome Detention Center have a message for the world: SOS.

On Thursday morning, a Telemundo 51 news helicopter flew overhead the facility and captured a scene of dozens of men mainly wearing white jumpsuits standing outside the detention center and forming the letters.

It appears to be the latest protest in response to conditions at the facility, but seemingly the first led by detainees themselves.

As U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) ramps up its immigration crackdowns under pressure from President Donald Trump, detention centers across the country — including Krome, the subject of troubling allegations of detainee abuse since its opening in the early 1980s — are plagued by reports of overcrowding and poor conditions.

In March, a man who said he was detained at Krome posted a series of viral TikTok videos documenting the cramped conditions inside the west Miami facility. In Spanish, he implored Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to support detainees, many of whom he said were Mexican. One video has amassed 4.6 million views at the time of this reporting, while another sits at 3.2 million views.

An attorney and ex-detainee who recently visited Krome told New Times they witnessed overcrowding, lack of food and water, and long waits for processing. And four women held at the all-male detention facility in February told USA Today they were treated "like animals." One woman said she wasn't fed for 36 hours, while another called the facility "Hell on Earth."

In 2024, a Department of Health Services (DHS) Office of Inspector General report documented guards' unnecessary use of force on migrants. Since December 2024, a person has died almost every month while in ICE custody at Krome.

The men at Krome, pleading for help through a human formation, appear to be the latest in a wave of similar actions at immigration detention centers nationwide.

In April, nearly 31 male detainees at an immigration detention center in Texas formed the letters "SOS" in the facility's dirt yard after immigration officials designated dozens of detained Venezuelans as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and notified them that they were subject to deportation under a wartime law.

This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.