Woman shackled and shuttled between jail and ICE office for 26 days total
Aug 27, 2026·Location: Pinellas County, FL
Country of origin: Morocco

Soumia Bensalah, a French Moroccan immigrant with a pending green card application, was repeatedly released from Pinellas County Jail and rebooked every 72 hours over five cycles in December, shackled and transported to an ICE office and back, totaling 26 days in custody that she said left her exhausted and humiliated. Legal experts say these 'rebookings' circumvent federal rules limiting how long county jails can hold immigrants for ICE. ProPublica found Pinellas County rebooked 174 immigrants and Orange County, Florida rebooked 559 immigrants this way, far more than any other jails nationwide, due to a shortage of ICE detention space. After the story's publication, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office provided an ICE memo dated Dec. 11, 2025, redesignating the jail as an 'over-72-hour facility' due to 'increased operational tempo,' after previously declining to clarify its earlier statement that the jail was meant to hold ICE detainees for only up to 72 hours.
Sources
- These Local Jails Were Supposed to Detain Immigrants for Only 72 Hours. One Woman Was Held for a Total of 26 Days.
ProPublica·Aug 27, 2026·archived copy
iwpost.com·Aug 27, 2026·archived copy
pipedot.org·Aug 27, 2026
leoncountyindivisible.com·Sep 3, 2026
- These Local Jails Were Supposed to Detain Immigrants for Only 72 Hours. One Woman Was Held for a Total of 26 Days. – ██FR█████ █INTELL███████████
22.frenchintelligence.org·Aug 27, 2026
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