Federal inspectors arrived unannounced at Krome North Service Processing Center in May 2025 and found 1,102 people held in a facility with a stated maximum capacity of 882 — roughly 25% over its limit. The inspection, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, also documented an officer using pepper spray on a detainee who was not resisting and another using a chokehold during a cell search, according to the resulting report.
The findings, first detailed by the Miami Herald, describe a facility on the outskirts of Miami that inspectors say violated a variety of government guidelines, including its own use-of-force standards. As reported by NBC6, the inspection was unannounced and conducted in May 2025, and it documented six intake holding rooms exceeding their posted capacity, with detainees standing or lying on floors. One housing unit was operating 58% above its intended population at the time.
Detainees Held Past the 12-Hour Limit
Some detainees remained in intake holding cells for more than 12 hours, exceeding the permitted window, per the same report cited by NBC6. The average detainee had been at Krome for 33 days by the time inspectors arrived. Miami Herald investigative fellow Claire Healy, whose reporting names the facility's contractor, notes that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with Akima Global Services for detention operations there; Akima did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the Herald.
The overcrowding wasn't confined to a single moment. The Los Angeles Times reports that Krome spent 161 days at the beginning of 2025 with more detainees than available beds, and that the population later swelled to 1,961 in late June — more than three times its rated capacity, according to the Los Angeles Times. Separately, TRAC Reports found that on at least one night during fiscal year 2025, Krome held 1,806 detainees at a facility TRAC says was designated for a maximum of 611 people — a different capacity measure than the one cited in the May inspection. TRAC notes that assessing overcrowding depends on a facility's physical capacity to house detainees rather than its contractual capacity, and the dossier does not establish whether these population figures are directly comparable.
Pepper Spray and an Unauthorized Chokehold
Inspectors reviewed five use-of-force cases out of 44 incidents recorded over six months in 2025 and found two were inappropriate. In one, officers could have used de-escalation techniques instead of pepper spray; the facility's own review found the man was offering no resistance, according to NBC6. In another, an officer used a chokehold during a cell search on a man who posed no danger of death or serious injury to anyone, per a separate account cited by a report reviewing the inspection findings. Chokehold use is authorized only when a detainee poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, according to the Miami Herald's reporting on the standard.
A prior 2023 inspection by the DHS Office of Inspector General had already found that Krome officers used excessive force against detainees, reviewing a random sample of five use-of-force incidents out of 44 at the time and determining that staff used inappropriate force in four of the five, per the Herald. That earlier review found officers deployed pepper spray through a cell-door slot at a man who was alone in his cell, and against other detainees who were already restrained, with inspectors concluding the officers were not under threat and the detainees posed no threat to themselves or others.
Food Safety Failures and Medical Staffing Gaps
Beyond the use-of-force findings, inspectors documented raw chicken being improperly thawed, uncovered food exposed to potential contamination, and frozen food left outside in direct sunlight for more than two hours, according to NBC6's review of the report. The facility also had 15 medical vacancies at the time of the inspection, including positions in behavioral health, psychology, administration, nursing support — and, per the outlet that first surfaced the detail, the person in charge of the medical department itself.
The Herald's reporting also describes detainees sleeping on floors or while standing because intake areas were overcrowded, and women left on a bus outside in their own urine because of overcrowding — details drawn from the paper's broader investigation into conditions at the facility. Mario Meléndez, a former detainee cited in that coverage, said his detention experience was the worst of his life and that he had never committed a crime.
ICE Response and Political Reaction
ICE concurred with all nine recommendations issued by inspectors; three had been closed and six remained open pending documentation and verification, according to NBC6. The agency said it added temporary housing space, implemented new oversight procedures, expanded training requirements and hired additional medical staff in response to the deficiencies. Separately, per the Miami Herald's reporting, ICE has said all inspector general recommendations had been resolved, provided a de-escalation curriculum, and denied claims that conditions at its detention centers were substandard — while not providing evidence that medical staff evaluated everyone involved in use-of-force incidents or that staff received de-escalation training, the Herald reports. ICE has said it is committed to ensuring that people in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments, a position the agency also expressed to NPR, which reported in June that more than a dozen detainees, family members and lawyers described similar overcrowding and inadequate food and medical care at Florida detention facilities including Krome.
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the report reflected overcrowded, unsanitary and unsafe conditions she saw during her own surprise inspection of the facility, calling the conditions systemic and inhumane, according to the Herald. She has said she plans to work to end the alleged abuse of power and hold those responsible accountable.
The problems at Krome mirror a wider pattern across the immigration detention system. TRAC found that 84 of 181 ICE detention facilities exceeded their contractual capacity on at least one day between October 2024 and mid-April 2025, and NPR reported the federal government was holding more than 48,000 people in immigration detention as of June, about 20% more than in January. ICE has acknowledged that some facilities were experiencing temporary overcrowding due to recent increases in detention populations, the outlet reported. The Miami Herald article was reported by Claire Healy, an Esserman investigative fellow at the paper, with Syra Ortiz Blanes contributing to the report.
