Demonstrators in South Florida took to the streets over the weekend to protest President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation strategy and reported inhumane conditions at an immigrant detention center off Krome Avenue in west Miami-Dade.
Protesters also rallied outside a Tesla dealership in Fort Lauderdale to oppose billionaire Elon Musk for slashing federal government jobs as head of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
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In west Miami-Dade, the Miami Herald and other media outlets reported that hundreds of demonstrators crowded the entrance to the Krome North Service Processing Center to call out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, for the alleged mistreatment of immigrants detained at the facility.
“History has shown us that when we overpopulate detention centers like this, people pass away,” Bryson Holtzer, one of the rally’s organizers, told WSVN-7 News. “They have not been very transparent about the way that they’re running these facilities, so we can’t be sure that they are treating these people humanely, women or men.”
Leo Gonzalez, 25, told the Miami Herald that the country “cannot let immigrants in this country be harassed by ICE and be kidnapped.”
Sui Chung, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, said Krome has had a long controversial history dating back four decades but that what’s happening now is “almost unprecedented.”
In an interview on WLRN’s South Florida Roundup Friday, she said she’s especially worried about reports that women are now being housed in the facility.
“Women have not been housed at Krome for many decades,” she said. “We don't know what the conditions are for women and given Krome's horrific history and the history of medical neglect, sexual abuse, and the poor conditions — this is really alarming.”
An ICE spokesperson told CBS4 in a statement that “it is not uncommon for female detainees to be staged at Krome.”
“This happens as the agency works on transferring the female detainees to another detention center or while they are waiting for their removal flight," the spokesperson said. "During the staging process, female detainees are not placed into the general population, thus male detainees to do not have access to female detainees."
The protests at Krome come only a week after four women told USA Today that they were held there "like animals" and subjected to conditions “so extreme they feared for their lives.” None of the women had a criminal background.
The women spoke to the national media outlet without disclosing their names in fear of retaliation by ICE authorities.
Two Krome detainees have also died in custody in recent months, according to ICE. Genry Ruiz Guillen, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, died Jan. 23. The other undocumented immigrant was Maksym Chernyak, 44, of Ukraine, who died Feb. 20.
In a statement to USA Today, ICE officials said the agency “takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”
“These allegations are not in keeping with ICE policies, practices and standards of care,” ICE officials added.
Despite the protests in South Florida and across the country, Trump’s deportation program remains popular with a majority of Americans, according a CBS News poll released Sunday. It found 58% approved compared to 42% who disapproved.
In Florida, which heavily favored Trump — who pledged to deport all undocumented immigrants — over Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, about 70% of Hispanic voters statewide said they favored reducing the number of immigrants who were allowed to seek asylum in the U.S. when they arrived at the U.S. border, according to AP VoteCast. That was in line with Florida voters overall.
Since taking office in January, Trump has carried out his aggressive immigration agenda, including a campaign pledge of mass deportations and to close U.S. borders to what he describes as being "under invasion" from undocumented migrants.
In early March, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, reported nearly 33,000 arrests nationwide of suspected undocumented immigrants in Trump's first 50 days in office, noting it was the same number arrested in the entire previous fiscal year.
"We will see the number of deportations continue to rise," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. "And illegal immigrants have the option to self-deport and come back LEGALLY in the future."
“And our team at ICE will help us continue moving forward to make America SAFE again," she said.
READ MORE: 'It's not personal': Trump's deportation efforts find support among South Florida Latinos
Tesla, Musk and growing protests
Protesters against Musk’s purge of the U.S. government under Trump have been demonstrated weekly outside Tesla dealerships throughout the U.S. in opposition to Musk, who has gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire federal agencies as he attempts to slash government spending.
The biggest portion of Musk’s estimated $340 billion fortune consists of his stock in Tesla, the electric vehicle company, which continues to run while also working alongside Trump.
This Saturday marked the first attempt by protesters to surround all 277 of the automaker’s showrooms and service centers in the U.S. in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the company’s sales.
By early afternoon crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker's home state of Texas as part of the "Tesla Takedown" movement. Pictures posted on social media showed protesters brandishing signs such as “ Honk if you hate Elon ” and “ Fight the billionaire broligarchy.”
In Fort Lauderdale, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported more than more than 400 protesters who lined the street on Federal Highway outside a Tesla dealership.
“Musk has gone in and trashed every institution we have,” Andrew Moreo, of Coral Springs, told the Sun Sentinel. “I’m an educator, so the destruction of the Department of Education is a travesty. The feeling is that they are trying to create uneducated citizenry.”
Protesters held up a variety of signs protesting Musk. From “Honk if Hate Nazis” to “Elon Musk has your tax returns” to “Curb your Doge.”
The CBS News poll found the country evenly divided on DOGE's drive to reduce the federal workforce.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Musk and some of his top aides at DOGE, defended their work.
"Everything I do is under extreme scrutiny. So there's not an action I can take that doesn't get scrutiny six ways to Sunday. Every action that the DOGE team does is public... It's the most amount of transparency there's been about any government thing ever," he said. He also said companies are "suffering" due to his role in the Trump administration.
On Sunday, Musk accused protesters, without offering any evidence, that
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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