ICE Detention in Florida: How to Find and Support a Detained Loved One

Florida is one of the most active immigration enforcement states in the country, and it has built one of the largest and fastest changing networks of detention sites anywhere. If someone you love has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, in Florida, they could be held in any of several kinds of places: long standing federal facilities, county jails, or newer state run sites that opened in 2025. Because there are so many possibilities and people are moved between them, the two most urgent things you can do are find exactly where your person is being held, and get an immigration attorney involved right away.

It helps to understand the nature of this. ICE detention is civil, not criminal. A person is not being held as punishment for a crime; they are being held to secure their presence for immigration proceedings or removal. And unlike criminal court, immigration court does not provide a free, government appointed lawyer, which is why finding legal help early is so important.

One number matters more than anything else through all of this: the Alien Registration Number, called the A-Number. It is a nine digit number assigned to the case, found on immigration paperwork, a work permit, or court notices. Write it down and keep it close, because it is the key to locating your person, posting any bond, and working with a lawyer.

How to find someone in ICE custody

ICE runs a free public tool called the Online Detainee Locator System, at locator.ice.gov. You can search by the A-Number, which is the most reliable way, or by the person's full name plus their country of birth and date of birth.

A few things make the difference between finding your person and coming up empty. The locator only matches names spelled exactly the way the government entered them, so if you get no result, try different spellings, swap the order of first and last names, and try with and without a middle name. Children under 18 do not appear in the system at all. And there can be a lag of a day or more before a newly detained person shows up.

In Florida there is an added wrinkle: people held at the newer state run sites do not always appear in the locator right away, and people are frequently moved between facilities. So if you cannot find your person, do not assume the worst. Keep checking, and also call the ICE detention reporting line at 1-888-351-4024. Florida falls under the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Miami field office, which oversees immigration custody for the state. If you still cannot locate your person, an immigration attorney can often help track them down.

Where ICE detention happens in Florida

Florida's detention sites fall into a few groups. The long standing federal facilities include the Krome North Service Processing Center, west of Miami, which is one of the oldest and largest immigration facilities in the country; the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, a privately run facility that has often held people detained for non criminal immigration issues such as visa overstays; and the Federal Detention Center in Miami, run by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

A number of county jails also hold people for ICE under cooperation agreements, including the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, the Flagler County facility in Bunnell, and a facility at the Liberty County Sheriff's Office in Bristol, among others.

Florida also opened its own state run detention sites in 2025. One is a facility in the Everglades, at a remote airfield in Collier County, widely known by the nickname Alligator Alcatraz; its future has been the subject of court challenges and reported plans to wind it down, so its status has been in flux. Another, nicknamed the Deportation Depot, operates at a former state prison near Sanderson in north Florida, not far from Jacksonville. Additional sites, including one in the Orlando area, have been discussed.

With this many sites, some of them remote and some with changing status, the single most reliable step is to use the live locator and confirm where your person actually is rather than relying on any fixed list.

How someone ends up in ICE custody in Florida

Florida has moved strongly toward cooperation with ICE, the opposite direction from states that limit it. State law requires local law enforcement to work with immigration authorities, and every one of Florida's 67 county sheriff's offices and county jails has signed a 287(g) agreement, the federal arrangement that lets local officers carry out certain immigration functions and place ICE holds. The state has also run joint enforcement operations with federal authorities.

What this means in practice is that a local arrest in Florida, even something minor like a traffic stop, can lead quickly to immigration custody. When a person is booked into a county jail, their information is checked, and an ICE hold, also called a detainer, can be placed to keep them for ICE. If your person was first arrested locally, this is usually how a local matter became an immigration detention.

How the process and your person's rights work

Immigration cases are handled in immigration court, run by a separate agency called the Executive Office for Immigration Review, not by ICE. Florida has several immigration courts, including in Miami and Orlando and at some detention facilities, and you can check case status through the court's automated system using the A-Number.

Here is what families most need to know about rights. A detained person has the right to be represented by a lawyer, but at their own expense, because the government does not provide one in immigration proceedings. They have the right to a list of free or low cost legal service providers. They generally have the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, and in many cases the right to ask that judge for release on bond. Some people are eligible for bond, which a judge can set and which can then be paid for release while the case continues; others fall under mandatory detention and are not eligible. One more thing worth knowing: a detained person should not sign documents giving up their rights, such as a voluntary departure form, without talking to a lawyer first. An immigration attorney can also tell you quickly whether your person is eligible for bond.

How families can help from the outside

Find a lawyer first. Florida has many immigration attorneys and legal aid organizations, including bilingual offices serving Spanish and Portuguese speaking families, and some focus on specific facilities. Have the A-Number ready when you call, and if your person has been hard to locate, tell the attorney that too.

Put money on their account and learn the phone and mail systems. Whichever facility is holding your person runs its own deposit, phone, and mail systems, often through outside vendors, so call that facility to confirm how each works. Be ready to start over if your person is transferred.

Visit if you can. Each facility sets its own visitation days, hours, and rules, and several Florida sites are in remote areas that make visiting a long trip, so confirm everything before you go.

Keep the paperwork organized. Hold onto every document with the A-Number, every court notice, and every receipt, and share copies with the attorney.

Staying connected matters more than anything

Through all of the logistics, do not underestimate the simple power of staying in touch. Detention is isolating and frightening, often made worse by distance, remote locations, and the fear of deportation, and steady contact from home is one of the few things that genuinely helps a person hold on.

Letters and photos are the backbone of that connection. They are something your person can keep, read again on a hard night, and hold as proof that home has not let go. InmateAid can help you send physical mail and photos to your loved one, printed and delivered the right way so it reaches them inside. Use it to send pictures of family, words of encouragement, or simply a reminder that someone is fighting for them on the outside. That steady contact, alongside a good lawyer, is the most practical support you can give while the case moves forward.