Every third morning Soumia Bensalah was roused before the break of dawn.
asserted
Bensalah → rouse → dawn
Pulled from her cell, shackled hand and foot, she was herded onto a bus and driven over Tampa Bay from the Pinellas County Jail to a cramped hold room at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
asserted
she → pull → office
Each time, she sat there all day, still shackled.
asserted
she → sit → ?
Once evening came, she was driven back to the jail, forced to wait for hours in a hallway, photographed, strip-searched, questioned and led back to her cell.
asserted
she → come → cell
This happened five times last December, and Bensalah said it left her exhausted and humiliated.
asserted
it → happen → her
It was no coincidence that Bensalah, a French Moroccan with a pending green card application, was released from the Pinellas jail and then sent back at regular, 72-hour intervals, according to legal experts.
uncertain
Bensalah → pende → experts
That’s the maximum amount of time that county jails like Pinellas’ can hold immigrants on behalf of ICE.
asserted
jails → ’ → ICE
The limit exists to prevent immigrants detained on civil charges from spending too long in jails meant for people detained on criminal charges.
asserted
limit → exist → charges
Repeat releases and readmissions, known as rebookings, typically happen in secret and circumvent federal rules and regulations, according to eight legal experts interviewed by ProPublica.
uncertain
releases → know → ProPublica
The jail had refused to release the logs that documented Bensalah’s journey, citing federal immigration regulations that shield jail records, which are typically public.
asserted
which → refuse → records
We were able to trace the journey after obtaining an unredacted copy of the Pinellas jail’s booking logs from a source who provided them on the condition of anonymity, for fear of workplace reprisal.
asserted
who → trace → reprisal
We checked them against anonymized federal immigration data collected by the Deportation Data Project.
asserted
We → check → Project
The repeat rebookings stem from the fact that the federal government often doesn’t have enough detention space to jail all the immigrants whom ICE and its cooperating local authorities are rounding up.
asserted
ICE → stem → whom
The shortage of detention space is pronounced in Florida, where the majority of law enforcement agencies have signed agreements to collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement.
asserted
majority → pronounce → enforcement
ProPublica’s analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project shows that over the past year, jails in both Pinellas County and in Orange County, Florida, had unusually high numbers of repeat rebookings of immigrants held for ICE compared with other jails nationwide.
asserted
jails → obtain → jails
The Orange County Jail, in Orlando, rebooked 559 of them two or more times from July 2025 until early February 2026, when the data shows the practice ceased.
asserted
practice → rebooke → February
Less than two hours away, in the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas rebooked 174 immigrants at least twice from July 2025 until the practice appeared to cease in July 2026, when zero rebookings were recorded in the data.
asserted
rebookings → rebooke → data
The scale in the two Florida counties is unmatched, ProPublica found.
asserted
ProPublica → find → counties
Other jails across the country rebooked no more than 10 immigrants two or more times.
asserted
jails → rebooke → immigrants
All of the rebooked immigrants ProPublica counted were jailed for ICE, meaning they were not being detained on local charges.
asserted
they → rebooke → charges
Our analysis counted a person as having been rebooked only if they cumulatively spent at least 72 hours in jail.
asserted
they → count → jail
Emily Ryo, a Duke University law professor who studies ICE detention, said jails often can’t provide comprehensive medical screenings, space for confidential legal consultations or even outdoor access.
asserted
jails → study → consultations
All of those things should be guaranteed to immigrants in ICE custody, according to ICE’s own detention standards.
uncertain
All → guarantee → standards
Two former Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke with ProPublica
asserted
who → speak → ProPublica
“What it shows is that they were very aware that they were breaking a rule,” said Michelle Brané, a former DHS immigration detention ombudsperson.
asserted
Brané → show → rule
Bensalah landed in jail after her U.S. citizen husband allegedly assaulted her, according to a police report.
uncertain
husband → land → report
She called the police, who observed cuts on both and booked them into the Polk County Jail on battery charges.
asserted
who → call → charges
(The charges against both were later dropped.)
asserted
charges → drop → both
She posted bond but was not released because of an ICE detainer, a written request from the federal government asking a jail to hold someone for up to 48 hours after they’d otherwise be released.
asserted
they → post → hours
A detainer is meant to give ICE time to pick up an immigrant and begin deportation proceedings.
asserted
detainer → mean → proceedings
State law requires every jail in Florida to sign collaboration agreements with ICE.
asserted
law → require → ICE
Most jails in the state can detain immigrants for ICE for only up to 48 hours.
asserted
jails → detain → hours
Through June, Pinellas and Orange had special contracts that ICE says allowed them to hold immigrants for up to three days.
asserted
them → have → days
ICE designates them as “under 72” facilities in its database.
asserted
ICE → designate → database
“At 72 you should have walked him out the door,” said a former senior DHS official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.
asserted
who → walk → reprisal
Instead of sending Bensalah to a longer-term immigration detention facility in the days after she posted bond, ICE moved her two counties over to Pinellas.
asserted
ICE → send → Pinellas
Three days later, her rebookings began.
asserted
rebookings → begin → ?
“There’s no argument that this is a lawful detention,” Jennifer Chacón, a professor of law at Stanford University, said of the repeat rebookings.
asserted
Chacón → ’ → rebookings
In response to ProPublica’s questions about the repeat rebookings, a DHS spokesperson wrote: “ICE is NOT breaking any laws by making custody determinations based on bed space and ensuring detainees’ presence for immigration proceedings or removal from the United States.”
asserted
ICE → write → States
ProPublica shared with DHS details about Bensalah’s case.
asserted
ProPublica → share → case
…and 96 more, not listed.
The Aporia
