Federal records outline possible Orlando ICE processing center where detainees could be held up to seven days
A warehouse site in east Orlando appears on a list of potential federal processing locations
Federal planning documents and related records indicate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has evaluated an east Orlando warehouse as a possible regional “processing center,” a type of short-term detention site where people could be held for three to seven days before being transferred to other facilities or removed from the United States.
The location connected to the planning records is a large warehouse at 8660 Transport Drive in Orlando. The property has been discussed internally as a potential facility with capacity in the 1,000-to-1,500-bed range, consistent with the federal model described in the documents. The records do not identify an Orlando site by name in the national plan overview, but the Orlando address appears in separate materials listing sites under consideration.
What the national plan describes: short stays at “processing centers,” longer stays elsewhere
The federal outline describes a detention expansion that distinguishes between regional processing centers and larger long-term detention sites. In the model, processing centers serve as staging points for transfers or removals, with an average length of stay measured in days rather than weeks.
The planning framework anticipates detainees spending three to seven days in a processing center before transfer, release, or removal actions.
The same records describe larger facilities intended to hold significantly more people—thousands at a time—for longer average stays, described as under about two months. The overall buildout is tied to a national capacity increase that federal planners describe as necessary to support elevated enforcement operations.
Local context: Orange County jail pressures and limits on repeated rebookings
In Central Florida, the possible new facility is being discussed against the backdrop of recent strain at the Orange County Jail, where county officials have reported a surge in detainees held on immigration detainers, including individuals without local criminal charges. County leadership has moved to limit the number of such detainees housed at the jail and to restrict repeated “rebooking” practices that county officials say effectively extend confinement beyond a single continuous 72-hour booking period.
Those county measures are scheduled to take effect March 1, 2026, and are designed to address operational capacity, staffing burdens, and tracking issues that can arise when individuals are moved in and out of the jail under new booking identifiers.
Key operational details described in the federal model
Capacity: Processing centers are described as facilities designed for roughly 1,000 to 1,500 people.
Length of stay: The model anticipates short-term holding, generally three to seven days.
Function: The facilities are framed as staging locations for transfers to larger detention sites or for removals.
Services: Planning descriptions reference detention standards that include basic living needs, medical care, and access to legal resources.
What remains unresolved
As of mid-February 2026, the available records do not establish a finalized purchase or opening timeline for an Orlando facility, and local details—such as staffing, contracting, transportation patterns, and how detainees would be routed through Central Florida—are not spelled out in the national overview. What the documents do provide is a clear operational concept: if a processing center is established in Orlando under the federal model, detainees could be held there for up to a week before the next step in their cases.