(The Center Square) – A possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Orlando is getting pushback from some Florida lawmakers.
ICE has not publicly announced plans for a facility in Orlando, and the agency did not immediately respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
Local media reported ICE representatives recently visited a large warehouse in the eastern portion of Orlando. The Trump administration plans to speed deportations nationwide by renovating warehouses that could hold thousands of people instead of sending them around the U.S. to wherever space is available, according to The Washington Post.
Democrats representing the district said Monday they will oppose any such plan. The group included State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orange County, who said expanding detention facilities “comes at a moment when immigration enforcement has increasingly looked like vigilant-style policing: aggressive street actions, broken windows, people dragged from cars, and even U.S. citizens being detained in the chaos and killed.”
Scrutiny of the immigration branch of the Department of Homeland Security grew last year as aggressive tactics used by agents circulated on social media. The fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota earlier this month sparked protests across the U.S.
Florida has built other facilities to support President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The most notable is “Alligator Alcatraz,” a detention center in the Everglades ordered to wind down operations last August. The center remains open as the legal battle plays out.
Florida stepped up its partnership with immigration authorities in 2025 with an initiative that allowed state agencies to work directly with ICE to identify, detain and process illegal immigrants, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
Since April, over 10,000 arrests have been made under the “Operation Tidal Wave” initiative, DeSantis said this month. Sheriff offices across the state participated, including in Orange County.
“We are a country of laws, and Florida is and always will be a law-and-order state,” Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement Director Anthony Coker said. “We will never apologize for doing anything in our power to make sure Floridians are safe.”
ICE’s enforcement and removal field office in Miami, which covers all of Florida, made 22,000 arrests over the last three years, according to ICE data.
The agency has a total of 25 enforcement and removal field offices across the country.
