Oversight Democrats' Letters: ICE Employees Allege Miramar Facility, Rated Capacity 56, Was Detaining Up to 342 People in One Day

Reps. Robert Garcia, Bennie G. Thompson and Maxwell Frost, the Ranking Members of the House Oversight and Homeland Security committees and an Oversight subcommittee, wrote to the Acting ICE Director and the DHS Inspector General on September 21, 2026, citing confidential whistleblower disclosures about the Miramar, Florida ICE office. The letters say the whistleblowers are ICE employees. They say the facility, with “a rated capacity of 56 people,” is “allegedly routinely detaining hundreds, including up to 342 people during one day in August.” The 342 is what the employees alleged to the lawmakers, not a count. The letters say Democrats on the Oversight and Homeland Security committees “are investigating,” and describe brutal conditions that put “staff, detainees, and the public at imminent risk of serious harm or death.” The facility is intended as a check-in and processing center where people are held for less than 12 hours.

ICE has denied overcrowding allegations: in July, NBC6 reported that ICE called the Miramar site a “check-in location” and said “the number of individuals held at the facility varies based on operational needs.” A federal class action filed in Miami, Salmeron v. Secretary of DHS, No. 1:26-cv-26911 (S.D. Fla.), alleges DHS and ICE are using the office as a de facto civil detention center. Its complaint describes a whistleblower allegation, later reported in congressional letters, that placed the Miramar Facility’s population at 342 people on a single day in August; its figure of 150 is what Rep. Wasserman Schultz observed on her unannounced July 2 inspection.