3 May 7-13, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ GLADES COUNTY UNSAFE SPACE A REPORT DETAILS SUICIDE PREVENTION FAILURES AT THE FLORIDA ICE JAIL WHERE A TEENAGER DIED. BY ALEX DELUCA A recent federal inspection un- covered widespread failures in suicide prevention and inter- vention protocols at a troubled South Florida immigration de- tention center less than two weeks before a teenager died there in what authorities have described as a presumed suicide. During a three-day inspection at the Glades County Detention Center in early March — less than two weeks before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the death of 19-year-old Royer Perez-Jimenez — personnel with ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) reviewed detainee files and found repeated breakdowns in basic suicide screening and monitoring procedures. According to the 12-page report released April 21, staff at the facility near Lake Okeechobee either failed to provide detainees with initial mental health screenings within 12 hours of intake, as per policy, or didn’t provide them at all. The inspection also found that staff weren’t obtaining information on detainees’ history of suicidal behavior or current suicidal ideation or performing welfare checks every eight hours, as required with suicidal detainees. Instead, staff at the detention center were con- ducting checks on suicidal detainees every 12 to 34 hours, or not at all, according to the report. Neither ICE nor DHS responded to New Times’ request for comment about the report on the county-run jail, which houses immigrant detainees near Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and has long faced allegations of abuse. The inspection took place March 3 through March 5 and coincided with the detention of Perez, a teenager from Chiapas, Mexico, who died of a presumed suicide at the facility less than two weeks later. Early on March 16, Perez — who appears to be the youngest person to die in ICE custody during President Donald Trump’s second term — was found dead at the jail from what ICE has called a “presumed sui- cide,” although his official cause of death re- mains under investigation. His family has repeatedly questioned that account, saying they do not believe he took his own life. In a statement released following Perez’s death, ICE said that Perez was evaluated by medical staff at intake and didn’t report any behavioral health issues, including answering “no” to all suicide screening questions. A “Detainee Death Report” released by ICE on April 24 provided additional details about the teen’s death, stating he was found unresponsive around 2:30 a.m. with a “cloth ligature around his neck connected to a fix- ture in the shower.”While deputies initiated CPR on Perez and medical staff used an auto- mated external defibrillator on him, with emergency medical services arriving shortly after to assume life-saving measures, Perez was pronounced dead at 2:51 a.m., according to the report. An ICE spokesperson didn’t respond to New Times’ questions about the report on the teen’s death. In 2022, 17 members of Congress asked that the Glades County Detention Center be closed, citing immigrants being “subject to racist abuse, often resulting in verbal abuse and vio- lence; sexual abuse, including sexual voyeurism by guards who have watched women shower; life-endangering COVID-19 and medical ne- glect, including a near-fatal carbon monoxide leak last November; and regular exposure to highly dangerous levels of a toxic disinfectant chemical spray linked to severe medical harms and long-term damage to reproductive health.” The recent inspection appears to be the first at the detention center since 2022. While inspectors visited the facility regularly — ei- ther annually or biannually — from 2019 on- ward, and previously in 2011 and 2015, they had not reported any violations involving sui- cide prevention during those prior visits. [email protected] | RIPTIDE | An ICE officer monitors a detention facility. Photo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Flickr ▼ SOUTH FLORIDA INSUFFICIENT FUNDS $11 MILLION CUT LEADS TO MIAMI CATHOLIC CHARITIES LAYOFFS. BY B. SCOTT MCLENDON T hanks to funding cuts from the adminis- tration of self-proclaimed Christian/cre- ator of jobs President Donald Trump, several dozen employees of a Miami religious charity will lose their jobs at the end of May as a facility for unaccompanied immigrant children shuts down, according to filings made in accor- dance with the Florida Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Miami officials in April announced the Office of Refugee Resettlement would cancel its long- time benefactor role with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami, which it paid to house immigrant children entering the U.S. without parents. The archdiocese says it now has to close the Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village, which cared for up to 81 children. The closure comes amid Trump’s ever-expanding crackdown on immigration, from ICE raids to travel bans. The cut amounts to about $11 million, according to Catholic Charities, which did not respond to a request for comment. According to the layoff filing first reported by USA Today, the organization’s administration alerted staff and cited the sudden funding cut as the culprit. Listed among the full staff layoffs was every employee of the village, including 46 youth care workers, 11 case managers, six clinicians, five traveling youth care workers, and other specialists and administrators. According to a letter written to staff, “As you know, the Administration for Children and Fami- lies’ Office of Refugee Resettlement terminated its funding contract with the agency. Due to these unforeseen circumstances, the funding for the program was terminated, and the agency has made the difficult decision to close the Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village. “Following confirmation received from the Office of Refugee Resettlement this week, as a result of this closure, your position will be elimi- nated with a separation date currently expected to be May 31, 2026.” News of the cut also came the same week Trump was feuding with Pope Leo XIV, and local Catholic leaders, including Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, came to the pope’s defense. However, Wenski said during a recent press conference that the canceled funds were unre- lated to the dustup. He alleged the funding was cut because Republican officials came to be- lieve Catholic Charities wasn’t just helping house and find homes for refugees, but also al- lowing drug smugglers to get into the country. He called the decision a matter of politics. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has paid Catholic Charities in Miami for years to house im- migrant children entering the U.S. without par- ents. The charity played a massive role in the U.S. State Department’s “Operation Pedro Pan,” a clandestine immigration initiative that brought more than 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban mi- nors into the U.S. during the rule of Fidel Castro. The Department of Health and Human Ser- vices has said the daily population of unaccom- panied migrant children in the agency’s care has decreased significantly, dropping to 1,900 under the Trump administration compared to a peak of 22,000 in 2021 under the Biden administration. [email protected] The Stories Your Friends Are Sharing FOLLOW US
