Wasserman Schultz Makes Unannounced Pompano Beach ICE Facility Oversight Visit, Announces New ICE Reform Legislation

Pompano Beach, FL - Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) made an unannounced oversight inspection of the ICE Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach. Wasserman Schultz also announced two new bills, the No PREJUDICE Act to prohibit ICE from racial profiling, and the Build Homes, Not Hate Act to redirect ICE funds to instead build housing.

Click here to watch the full press conference.

A Wasserman Schultz constituent, Claudia Carolina Rodriguez Caglianone, is being held at the facility after being detained for eight days at the ICE Field Office in Miramar, where Rep. Wasserman Schultz recently conducted oversight and put a spotlight on inhumane conditions. Claudia lawfully moved from Venezuela to the United States in 2017 on a tourist visa, and within six months applied for asylum. She received Temporary Protected Status in 2023 and her asylum case is pending. Earlier in July, she was arrested by ICE agents at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Last year, she earned her master's degree from St. Thomas University. Wasserman Schultz spoke with Claudia via phone to learn about her treatment at the ICE facilities in Pompano Beach and Miramar.

When she spoke to Claudia, Wasserman Schultz says she described being held for eight days in the Miramar ICE facility, significantly longer than the 72 hours allowed by law. Claudia had no access to a shower or change of clothes for the entirety of her time in Miramar. She also described women sleeping on the floor and limited light. Wasserman Schultz was joined by Claudia's friends and family for the press conference.

"Stories like Claudia's and so many others must lead to action. Because the end of TPS means more and more of our neighbors will be targeted by ICE," said Wasserman Schultz. "Right now, ICE agents are overrunning airports to catch law-abiding residents like Claudia, upending lives, wasting taxpayer dollars, and betraying America's values. Every dollar we spend to build mass detention centers is a dollar not spent on making life more affordable for working families."

"[Claudia] is living proof that the reality is much more complicated than any narrative that can be painted," said Gabriel Dominguez, Claudia's cousin. "We can't allow labels to replace humanity."

The No PREJUDICE (No Person's Race, Ethnicity, Job, or Use of Dialect or Inflection is Cause for Enforcement) Act would ensure that that no DHS funds may be used to target people based on perceived race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. It would bar DHS from targeting people just because they are at a bus stop, car wash, a Home Depot, or any other place associated with temporary work. It would also ensure that speaking Spanish, Haitian Creole, or even English with an accent, is not a legal cause for immigration enforcement. Read the full No PREJUDICE Act here.

The Build Homes, Not Hate Act would claw back $70 billion of ICE funds from the Republican Big Ugly Law, and to use that money to solve America's housing cost crisis and end homelessness, once and for all. By redirecting this money from incarceration to investment in home construction, conversion, and preservation, 200,000 new affordable and market-rate housing units can be generated in the most expensive regions, like South Florida. There would remain enough money left over to provide supportive housing and transitional services to every single homeless person in America. Read the full Build Homes, Not Hate Act here.

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