6 June 5–11, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Krome Detention Center (1981-1982), by Gary Monroe Krome Detention Center is at the edge of the Everglades, where nondescript cinderblock buildings encroach on the river of grass. The 1980 Cuban flotilla brought 125,000 refugees to Miami from the port of Mariel. Krome was the official point of entry. It was a testy, redefining year, and things were just getting started. About 30,000 Haitian refugees (also known as Haitian boat people) arrived by boat on the heels of the Marielitos. They, though, came without an effective lobby and were largely unwelcome. While the Cuban immigrants could assimilate, the Haitians lingered at Krome. By the mid-1970s, South Beach had become a community of Jewish retirees. Miamians shunned the area, which was anything but a place of fun-in-the-sun tourism. The popular television show Miami Vice and artist Christo and Jean- Claude’s Surrounded Islands became key markers for the re-emerging city. On these shifting grounds, a serendipitous photograph of a young Haitian man gliding on his bicycle by three older adults on their morning chores availed the opportunity to photograph other immigrants’ beginnings on these golden sidewalks. I then photographed Haitians recently released from Krome to the Metropole Hotel at Sixth Street and Collins Avenue, which the government had leased for temporary housing. In previous years, the hotel was a bastion for Hasidic Jews. Soon, I drove out to Krome. At the guardhouse, a uniformed official with his hand on his rifle turned me away. Three weeks later, I met with camp director Cecilio Ruiz. I showed him a box of South Beach prints sprinkled with 50-cent art words, and he told me to cut to the chase; he was a busy man. I asked for unrestricted access to the camp for a year. He told me I could photograph anyplace I wanted, except at the camp jail, as he hurried away. I stopped him and asked why; after all, he barred the press. Mr. Ruiz said he got what I was doing, that I was not a photojournalist, and he had nothing to hide. [email protected] Krome from p 7 register to win at miaminewtimes.com/promotions COOL STUFF go here to WIN
