A Lawsuit and Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction were filed against Miami-Dade County on behalf of registered sex offenders legislated into homelessness and directed to live at an encampment on a street corner alongside active railroad tracks in a warehouse district in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.

This is the fourth such encampment created by the County, after sex offender residency restrictions exclude registrants from living in most of Miami-Dade.

In an effort to shut this one down, the County recently amended their “overnight camping ordinance” to allow police to arrest homeless sex offenders on sight. The only problem is; they are involuntarily homeless and there is nowhere for them to go!

The Complaint and Emergency Motion for Injunction were filed by a team of attorneys from Legal Services of Greater Miami, the Florida Justice Institute and the ACLU of Florida. It was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court and as of the time of this post has not been assigned yet (it was literally filed moments ago).

The Injunction seeks to preserve the status quo (avoid eviction or arrest of the registrants) until the Lawsuit is decided. The Lawsuit asks the court to declare the side of the road where the registrants are now living not “County facility/property” and therefore not subject to the camping ordinance. It also asks the court to declare the Miami-Dade county ordinance that allows sex offenders to be arrested on sight for violating the “overnight camping ordinance” cruel and unusual punishment.

Please check back regularly for updates on this!

 

Share This

Let's Spread Truth

Share this post!