Research Note Researched

Miami-Dade FL — Krome SPC led all 98 ICE facilities in use of force, then ICE stopped tracking it

Miami-Dade · FL · FIPS 12086

Why It Matters

Leaked ICE incident data published by Reason on May 22, 2026 shows the Krome North Service Processing Center (Miami-Dade) reported more uses of physical force against detainees than any other of 98 ICE facilities over a 26-month window — and that after Trump took office in 2025, ICE’s reporting degraded to boilerplate, eliminating the narrative detail that made the abuses visible. This is both a conditions story and a transparency-collapse story, and it is directly relevant to where Alligator Alcatraz detainees are being transferred as that facility winds down (see fl-miami-dade-alligator-alcatraz).

Key Findings (leaked “Daily Detainee Assault Report” emails, Jan 2024–Feb 2026)

176 uses of force at Krome over 26 months — about 12% of all 1,460 documented force incidents across 98 ICE facilities, the single highest of any facility.
Four-point restraint chairs: Krome accounted for 61% of all restraint-chair uses in the dataset — 23 of 38 total incidents. An attorney described these as “corporal punishment, which is forbidden in civil detention”; one client suffered “complete nerve damage from the restraints.”
Transparency collapse: after Trump took office in 2025, reports shifted to boilerplate language, dropping the circumstances and force-type narratives. Injury reports continued (e.g., “contusions and a lacerated lip”) but without explanation of how injuries occurred.

Conditions Context

Krome has faced sustained 2025-2026 reporting on severe overcrowding (rooms of 60-80 men with barely room to lie down), detainees forming “SOS” and “libre” with their bodies in the rec yard, and deaths in custody — including a Ukrainian man who died after allegedly falling ill at Krome without adequate care, prompting a planned wrongful-death suit. Attorney Katie Blankenship (Sanctuary of the South) is involved in several lawsuits challenging South Florida detention conditions. Miami Democrats have demanded facility tours.