Man slams 5-year-old against wall, surrenders after hours of barricading himself
Miami-Dade deputies spent almost four hours trying to talk a man of his barricaded apartment after he allegedly slammed his son against a wall Saturday afternoon, injuring the 5-year-old, authorities say.
Around 2 p.m., Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office deputies were alerted to the scene at an apartment complex near Tamiami Park. The young boy suffered a 'laceration' at the home, 2055 SW 122nd Ave.
The child was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. There were two other children in the home at the time, according to the Sheriff's office.
The man, who has not been identified, barricaded himself inside the apartment and spent hours refusing to listen to the deputies commands to come out.
He surrendered around 5:40 p.m.
At the scene, the crackle of a negotiator's voice over a megaphone could be heard amid sharp pops of smoke and gas grenades.
SWAT teams were positioned around the apartment complex, many aiming high-powered rifles at the building.
A video posted to the OnlyinDade social media platform captured the chaotic scene before the surrender, showing heavily armed law enforcement officers surrounding the area.
'Come out with your hands up,' a negotiator called out in both English and Spanish. 'Let us help you,' they pleaded with him.
Miami Herald staff writer Milena Malaver contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.
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‘Some cry all day.' ICE detainees face harsh conditions in Miami federal facility
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So we took matters into our own hands with the only option we had.' Migrant detention centers are overcrowded as a result of the Trump administration's mass-deportation campaign, and the government is housing detainees wherever it can — including five Federal Bureau of Prison facilities across the country under a February contract. A Miami Herald investigation has found those detainees face harsh conditions, crumbling infrastructure, use of force and lack of counsel, according to legal documents and interviews with more than a dozen immigrant detainees, Federal Bureau of Prisons employees and lawyers. While some say conditions are better than at nearby migrant detention centers, legal access is far more difficult. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows an average daily population of 152 migrant detainees at the Federal Detention Center in Miami — but 350 to 400 men are held there at any given time, according to several officers who spoke to the Herald anonymously for fear of retribution. The number changes rapidly as more than 100 men can be shuffled in and out every week. ICE calculates averages across fiscal year 2025 which began in October, four months before the Bureau of Prisons facilities had migrant detainees. The result is a dramatic undercount of the detainee population. One BOP employee in Miami called the 152 number a 'bold-faced lie.' A spokesperson for ICE referred the Herald to the Bureau of Prisons for this article. A spokesperson for Miami's federal detention center said immigration questions should be directed to ICE, and that the BOP would not comment on individual cases. 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Officials have refused to release names of migrants sent to a naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, and a prison complex in El Salvador. The Herald found that at least two detainees held in Miami's federal detention center are green-card holders with legal permission to be in the United States. Javar Miller, a U.S. permanent resident since 2012, was detained in late January at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, he said, on his way home from his father's funeral in the Bahamas. Authorities wouldn't tell him why, and the 43-year-old father was soon sent to FDC Miami. A lawyer later told him the government had opened removal proceedings against him over a years-old closed theft case. He was released on probation and he paid restitution in 2019. 'This is not America, the land of the free,' Miller's wife, Tasha, told Miami Herald reporters on the phone. 'As you tear families apart, that's tearing up the fabric of what you call the United States of America.' Under the agreement between the Federal Bureau of Prisons and ICE, immigrant men would be housed in designated units for a six-month period. The day after the contract was signed, BOP administrators across the country received a letter saying 'deportable non-citizen detainees' will be considered 'pretrial inmates.' This is not the first time the government has moved to do so — in 2018, immigrants held at FCC Victorville, a California correctional facility, sued ICE over inadequate conditions and due-process and religious-freedom violations. The government moved them after a settlement. In Honolulu, Hawaii, detainees are also held in a federal detention center. Wiese and other lawyers reported delays or cancellations of calls with ICE detainees at BOP facilities. In Atlanta, lawyers described missed hearings and 'desolate' conditions at a low-security prison. In Kansas, local civil rights groups wrote a letter raising concerns. At FDC Miami, lawyers described a lack of access to key legal documents, like notices to appear in immigration court. Immigration judges routinely deport people for not showing up to hearings. They said it's harder to represent men incarcerated in the BOP facilities than at the ICE centers they are transferred from. 'You're going from bad to, like, extremely bad,' Wiese said. 'There is an access-to-justice crisis here,' she said. 'There is a due-process crisis.' Located next to a courthouse and high-rise apartment buildings, the federal detention center is a concrete tower in downtown Miami. It holds pretrial inmates awaiting their sentencing, men and women who are serving their sentence, and inmates who have been sentenced but are awaiting transfer to another facility. On the 10th and 11th floors, the BOP set aside four units that can each hold up to 125 people — 500 people total — and ICE assigned two staff members to each floor. 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And detainees with previous criminal convictions had already served their time. 'To me, it's outlandish. You have people who have families, they have already established themselves in a country, they're good, hardworking people,' he said. 'All these immigration raids, they've come in and snatched people from their families. That's devastating.' And the conditions are 'harsh,' he said. 'Deplorable.' Detainees are on lockdown in their cells, often the majority of the day. So far, the youngest he's seen was 18 or 19, and the oldest, in his 70s, was in a wheelchair. The smell of feces lingers and some don't have hot water. Employees told the Herald that the air conditioners don't work on one floor, as the South Florida temperatures climb into the high 80s. The windows don't open. Many come in sick – and one detainee had tuberculosis, he said. Staff were worried; they had been given little information on the case and didn't know if they'd been exposed. Officers themselves are not in agreement on how detainees should be treated. Detainees have been pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground for refusing to return to their cells, causing minor injuries on both sides, the officer said. With only two working elevators, he worries that help won't reach the top floors fast enough in an emergency. Officers have referred many detainees with suicidal thoughts to the psychology staff, but the stress is taking its toll on them too. 'Mentally, it's very draining,' the officer said. Every day when he exits the building, he thanks God he made it out alive. And the flow of detainees continues. One day, 70 detainees left. Two days in a row, 50 detainees arrived. Another day, about 100. The transfers make it difficult for officers to keep track of records — leading to the violent confrontation and the flash bang grenades. In April, the tension and confusion came to a head when officers counted an extra person among incoming ICE detainees. They left them waiting in the cell as they figured out the recount — which is when the roughly 50 men flooded the cell in in protest. ICE officers had transferred them from the Krome detention center – which was so severely overcrowded detainees were sleeping on the floor. Two people had died after being held there. When they arrived at Miami's Federal Detention Center, the men were placed in a small room. Officers told them they would be there until they were processed, which could be until the next day. There was only one toilet. Accounts differ on the time they were in the cell, but all said it was hours on end. Reporters spoke with six detainees who were in the room on April 15 when they say officers launched flash-bang grenades into their cell. Three employees confirmed details to reporters. The Herald also obtained civil-rights lawsuits and testimonies about the incident, and spoke with two lawyers of the detainees. 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Javar Miller hadn't seen his wife and daughter since he left for his father's funeral in January. In his cell in Miami, he passed the time reading. The closest he got to fresh air was a part of the recreation room, where a section of the roof is open and covered like a 'cage.' The BOP guidebook for ICE detainees states they will have access to outdoor recreation. 'They had us locked down like prisoners,' he said. 'Like animals in cages.' He said others, like him, had legal documents to stay in the U.S. But it didn't change anything. One man repeatedly said he couldn't breathe, Miller said, but officers told him 'it's not an emergency.' In another instance, he saw one detainee stab another in the face with a screw, he said. His wife, Tasha, said the detention has been hard on the family and the couple's 11-year-old daughter. On one occasion, they thought Miller was being released, and his daughter made a sign to welcome him home. When he didn't return, she refused to get her hopes up again. 'She was in agony,' his wife said. She heard politicians say the administration is going after 'criminals.' 'That's not what they're doing. They are breaking up families,' she said. 'I think it's racist. I think it's about black and brown [people].' 'Let's call a spade a spade, let's be honest. This is not about criminals, people that are killing people,' she said. 'Let everybody be aware of what they are up against and give them a chance to fight. We didn't have a chance.' In the early morning of May 17, Javar Miller was released after a judge dismissed his deportation case. His wife and sister were waiting outside to meet him. 'That was the greatest feeling in the world,' he said. 'Just to be free.' But ICE still has not returned his green card, Bahamian passport or wedding ring. He has spent the last several weeks asking authorities for his possessions — and trying to return to his life in New York. Bills that he couldn't pay during detention has piled up. 'I'm hanging in there. I ain't gonna let it break me,' he said. 'I'll get through it.' Miami Herald Staff Writer Julie K. Brown contributed to this story was produced with financial support from the Esserman Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.


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Miami Herald
5 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Man slams 5-year-old against wall, surrenders after hours of barricading himself
Miami-Dade deputies spent almost four hours trying to talk a man of his barricaded apartment after he allegedly slammed his son against a wall Saturday afternoon, injuring the 5-year-old, authorities say. Around 2 p.m., Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office deputies were alerted to the scene at an apartment complex near Tamiami Park. The young boy suffered a 'laceration' at the home, 2055 SW 122nd Ave. The child was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. There were two other children in the home at the time, according to the Sheriff's office. The man, who has not been identified, barricaded himself inside the apartment and spent hours refusing to listen to the deputies commands to come out. He surrendered around 5:40 p.m. At the scene, the crackle of a negotiator's voice over a megaphone could be heard amid sharp pops of smoke and gas grenades. SWAT teams were positioned around the apartment complex, many aiming high-powered rifles at the building. A video posted to the OnlyinDade social media platform captured the chaotic scene before the surrender, showing heavily armed law enforcement officers surrounding the area. 'Come out with your hands up,' a negotiator called out in both English and Spanish. 'Let us help you,' they pleaded with him. Miami Herald staff writer Milena Malaver contributed to this report. This is a developing story.