Letter from Mayor Demings to the US Marshal’s Service | December 22, 2025

Letter from Mayor Demings to the US Marshal's Service | December 22, 2025

Dear Ms. Ogburn:

My office has provided me with your name as the point of contact for the US Marshal's Service (USMS) regarding the renegotiation of our Intergovernmental Services Agreement (IGSA).

In April 2025, our Orange County Corrections Department began receiving an increased number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrestees, specifically related to the federal government's enforcement activities surrounding illegal immigration. Since that time, our jail has seen a continually increasing number of arrestees booked on behalf of ICE for this purpose, with over 5,000 ICE immigration inmates being booked into our jail over the past eight months.

Under our current IGSA, Orange County receives $88/day in reimbursement for the costs associated with housing federal inmates. However, on August 11, 2025, Orange County formally sent notice to the USMS, requesting to renegotiate our IGSA, based upon more recent calculations of the costs associated with housing federal inmates in our facility. Our costs are currently calculated to be $180/day, per inmate. This calculation is based upon the expense of providing a secure environment, as well as providing appropriate healthcare and access to the basic human needs experienced by an inmate in our facility.

Since August 11, 2025, Orange County Corrections has received 3,626 additional ICE inmates, for which we are realizing a deficit of $92/day. This financial burden has had a substantial impact to our county budget for which we are not receiving reimbursement from the federal government, nor from the state of Florida.

Since August 11, 2025, Orange County Government has continued to shoulder the financial responsibility of supporting ICE enforcement activities without being properly reimbursed for those expenses. Orange County has done our part to ensure our operations are compliant with both federal and state laws which have mandated our participation in supporting immigration enforcement activities. But I am deeply concerned that the fiscal impact of these legislative mandates is being unfairly shouldered by the taxpayers of Orange County, to the tune of over $333,592.00. To date, supporting federal and state immigration mandates has cost our county's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is a hefty burden for any local government to pay.

I am writing to request your immediate attention toward righting this wrong, and to seek your immediate action in providing Orange County full reimbursement of our expenses related to supporting your immigration enforcement activities. The burden of the expense related to immigration enforcement activities should be borne by the federal government, not local governments who've been forced to follow the law in support of your initiatives.

I request the USMS expedite the renegotiation of our IGSA and provide us with a complete reimbursement of Orange County's expenses related to your immigration enforcement initiatives, such that our local taxpayers no longer bear the costs of your initiative.

Please provide me with an updated timeline in which we can expect to resolve this financial burden so that I can appropriately notify our citizens of this action.