South Florida immigration news

Miami-Dade to stop enforcing immigration detainers

Miami-Dade County plans to stop paying to house individuals who are subject to "immigration detainers." The main issue for Miami-Dade is that the federal government does not fully reimburse them for the costs of prolonged detention.

An immigration detainer is lodged by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) after an individual is arrested for a local offense, and the federal immigration agency is then notified of their presence in local jails. ICE can then request that the local authorities continue to hold the individual for up to 48 hours after they are due to be released, so that ICE can detain them on immigration charges. Immigration detainers are part of the Secure Communities program of local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, a program in which Miami-Dade has participated since 2009. The purported purpose of the program was to identify undocumented immigrants who had committed serious crimes for deportation, but in practice the program has led to the detention and deportation of millions with no criminal history or only minor criminal violations.

Jeb Bush claims immigration reform is possible in 2014

In a December 19, 2013, article penned for The Hill, Bush writes, "Every member of the House leadership team has expressed commitment to move reform forward in 2014, and each week the number of rank and file Republicans in favor of reform grows." Hopefully, other Republican leaders will continue to voice support for immigration reform and push for a resolution in 2014.