By Churchill Ndonwie
Miami Herald
MIAMI, Fla. — A congressman who toured the Krome detention center in Miami on Monday said he found no issues with the treatment of detainees and was impressed with how the facility is being run. The only room for improvement, he said, was more recreation time.
“One of the recommendations that I’m going to make is to allow for more recreation time, because actually that’s one way you burn off energy,” Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Miami said.
In recent months, the Krome facility has been plagued with complaints about unhygienic conditions and overcrowding that has left many detainees sleeping on the floors. Earlier this month, a group of Cuban detainees at the facility protested the conditions by aligning their bodies in the recreation yard of the facility to spell SOS. They waved their hands and white shirts to get the attention of cameras, and kneeled on the gray concrete basketball court as guards stood watch on the outskirts.
Three detainees have died at the facility over the past year.
Gimenez has been part of a vocal group of South Florida Republican lawmakers who have called on the Trump administration to amend its deportation policy from a one size fits all to a case-by-case basis.
His conclusions after his visit to Krome stand in contrast to his Democratic colleagues, who have had damning observations after their visits to the facility.
“It is not the Ritz, but there is nothing in there that would be cause for an alarm,” Gimenez said.
In April, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson visited the site and called it a “field trip” because she said the facility officers only showed what they wanted her to see. In May, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz spent three hours in a surprise visit to the facility and said she was “troubled and concerned” about the conditions she witnessed.
“They are very small intake rooms with 25-35 men, all cramped in,” Wasserman Schultz said at the time. “They are eating and sleeping. Defecating and urinating in, there’s a toilet in there, but it is front of all these other people.”
‘Not on my bucket list’
“It is not on my bucket list to be in there,” Gimenez said, describing his visit to a group of reporters outside Krome. “But that does not mean it is not adequate and it is not something that any American would be ashamed of.”
Gimenez, the first Republican South Florida member of Congress to visit Krome, said the center was currently running at capacity, with 1,000 men in detention. He said detainees were coming in and out of the facility, with an average stay of 27 days.
The detainees who had been apprehended for being in violation of some law were arrested and transferred out, he said.
“Most of the men, because they are all men in there, will be deported. Some of them will get to stay,” Gimenez said.
The Miami Herald reported in March how the Trump administration’s increase in immigration detentions were driving inhumane conditions at the Krome facility, as the center became overcrowded. The Miami Herald spoke to detainees, family members and lawyers who all described difficult conditions at Krome.
The people the Miami Herald interviewed in March described a facility at a breaking point and detainees in a state of desperation. One of the detainees said it was so overcrowded that people were sleeping on their feet. Another detainee recorded and shared a video of men sleeping on floors and under chairs.
Gimenez said Monday he did not observe anyone sleeping on the floor.
“If you sit on the floor, that is because they want to sit,” he said. There were about 100 detainees per cell, which he described as dorm style. He said each cell had six toilets and six showers. Though Krome is already at capacity, Gimenez said the facility is not crowded.
“People are saying that they are not adequate bathroom facilities. They are adequate bathroom facilities, they are fed three times a day,” he added.
Gimenez said he understands conditions are not pleasant for detainees, but added it is a detention center and not the Ritz hotel. He said some of the detained men who spoke Spanish went up to him and said they could not shower and urinated on the floor. Gimenez said he pointed out to those detainees that they had access to a toilet and a shower.
“When I came here, they said, ‘this is inhumane.’ I didn’t find anything inhumane here,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez also praised the medical center at Krome. He toured the facility, which he described as an innovative collaboration between private hospitals and the detention center. He claimed detainees from around the country are brought to Krome for medical care because of how good of a medical program had been established at the site. Gimenez said the detainees who need it are also provided psychiatric care.
“I was very impressed with the medical facility,” he said.
In the past year, three ICE detainees have died at Krome. A 60-year-old Guyanese immigrant died in December. Javer Ruiz Guillem, 29, a Honduran immigrant, died in January. And Maksym Chernyak, 44, from Ukraine, suffered a stroke. Krome staff delayed calling 911 for 40 minutes. Chernyak died two days later.
A Herald investigation in May reviewed the cases and consulted with experts who questioned the medical care provided to Ruiz and Chernyak, and who said they were alarmed by the level of care provided.
Gimenez said that as former mayor of Miami-Dade County he was also in charge of the jail system, and is using that judgment to assess whether ICE detention facilities like Krome are up to humane standards.
“Again, it is not the Ritz. But it is not something you ... wouldn’t see in any other detention facility.”
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