Demonstrators decry overcrowding, overheating at Miramar ICE field office

MIRAMAR, Fla. — Protestors gathered outside the Miramar Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Wednesday weeks of alarming reports about conditions inside the facility.

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Immigrant rights and faith groups have decried conditions at the facility for years and organize Wednesday protests.

They said detainees are subject to overcrowding and overheating.

Protester Luis Rivera said he has a close family friend who had a required appointment at the office. He said he’s scared and worried.

“You have people, your family, your friends (who) you love,” he said. “It’s hard.”

Arianne Betancourt said her father was detained at the facility for six months. She now works full time to make sure people have humane conditions when held in detention.

“They’re going to spread the cruelty,” she said.

Betancourt added, “I talk to people who tell me that before they got to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (in Collier County), they were able to walk and now they require a wheelchair and at these centers they don’t give wheelchairs, so these elders are bed-bound now.”

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A Local 10 News crew saw a fire truck and ambulance go inside and get escorted out by authorities.

Rivera said he wants to protect his friend’s identity, but described him as a 20-year-old who came to the U.S. three years ago.

He said his friend is OK “for the moment, but he continued in the line, so I don’t know when he go inside they’re going to remove (his) phone.”

Rivera said they live in Orlando, but he drove his friend to the Miramar office, because that’s where his appointment was.

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Protesters said they plan to continue the weekly protests.

Local 10 News contacted ICE seeking comment.