Broward Transitional Center Overview
Broward Transitional Center is an ICE civil immigration detention facility at 3900 N. Powerline Road in Pompano Beach. Oversight runs through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Miami Field Office, with a contract detention provider operating the site. The people held here are adult immigration detainees in ICE custody, not county-jail inmates awaiting trial on state charges. That is the key distinction for anyone searching.
Because it is a federal immigration facility, the rules differ from a county jail. Custody, visitation, mail, and case information all follow ICE procedures rather than sheriff policy. The facility's published capacity was not located in the current ICE materials, so no capacity figure is listed here. The screenshot below shows the official ICE facility page for the center.
That ICE page is the source for the address, phone, visitation, and mail details described here.
How to Look Up a Detainee at Broward Transitional Center
The sheriff's arrest search does not cover this facility. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator instead. It searches by A-number with country of birth, or by exact first and last name with country of birth. The locator covers current ICE custody and CBP custody held over 48 hours, and it cannot search records for anyone under 18.
- Open the ICE Online Detainee Locator at locator.ice.gov.
- Search by the nine-digit A-number and country of birth, if you have it.
- If no A-number, search by exact first name, exact last name, and country of birth.
- To ask about someone housed here, call the facility with the person's biographical details.
For a hyphenated last name, include the hyphen, and add leading zeros to reach nine digits on the A-number. The locator requires an exact match, so spelling matters.
Broward Transitional Center Address and Contact
To ask about a detainee housed at the facility, ICE says to call between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. with the person's first, last, and any hyphenated names, aliases, date of birth, and country of birth. Detainees cannot receive incoming calls.
Broward Transitional Center
3900 N. Powerline Road
Pompano Beach, FL 33073
(954) 973-4485
ERO Miami field office: (954) 236-4900
Case information requests go to Miami.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov, and immigration court information is available from EOIR at 1-800-898-7180. The ERO Miami office address on the ICE page is 865 SW 78th Ave., Suite 101, Plantation, FL 33324.
Visiting Someone at Broward Transitional Center
Friends and family visits follow ICE schedules that differ for men and women by day. Each detainee gets one 45-minute session per assigned weekend, with a maximum of two visitors including minor children. Visitors should arrive one hour before the scheduled time, bring a valid government ID, and accompany any minors. Social visits are non-contact, visitors are subject to search, and no items may be carried into the visitation area.
| Day | Hours | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 8:00 - 9:45 a.m. and 2:00 - 3:45 p.m. | Male visitation |
| Sunday | 8:00 - 9:45 a.m. | Male visitation |
| Sunday | 2:00 - 3:45 p.m. | Female visitation |
Attorneys and paralegals may visit seven days a week, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Confidential legal calls or video can be requested through the facility. Verify the current schedule before traveling, since ICE times can change.
Mail and Messages at Broward Transitional Center
Letters to a detainee must include the last four digits of the detainee's A-number along with the sender's name and address. Incoming mail is screened for contraband, and legal mail is handled separately. Detainees may buy stamps, and indigent detainees receive a postage allowance. General correspondence is returned to the sender after a transfer or release, while only legal mail is forwarded.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Mail Addressing | Detainee name, last four digits of A-number, plus sender name and address |
| Urgent Message | Call the facility with full name, A-number, caller name, and callback number |
| Parking and Access | Free public parking with marked visitor spaces and disability accommodations |
How Immigration Custody Works Here
Immigration custody is not the same as a criminal arrest and booking. A person at Broward Transitional Center is held under civil immigration authority while their case moves through the system, not because of a county criminal charge. That is why the county arrest search and the booking process described for the sheriff's jails do not apply here.
A person can sometimes pass between systems. Someone released from a county jail may be picked up on an immigration detainer, or an ICE detainee may have a separate criminal matter. When that happens, the criminal side is searched through the county or court systems, and the immigration side is searched through ICE. Keeping the two custody types separate avoids a failed search.
Immigration Court and Legal Access
Detainees at the center have a separate legal track from a criminal court case. Immigration court information is handled by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, reachable at 1-800-898-7180, which is where hearing dates and case status for removal proceedings are confirmed. General case-information questions for the facility route to the ICE Miami outreach email rather than to a county clerk.
Legal access is built into the facility's rules. Attorneys and paralegals may visit seven days a week, with longer weekday hours than weekend hours, and confidential legal calls or video sessions can be arranged through the facility. That broader legal access reflects the civil nature of immigration detention, where a person is working through an immigration case rather than a state criminal charge.
ICE Custody vs. County Jail Custody
The clearest way to avoid a wasted search is to see how immigration custody differs from a county jail booking. They are run by different authorities, searched in different systems, and follow different rules. The table below lays out the contrast for someone trying to find a person who may be in Broward County.
| Broward Transitional Center | County Jail | |
|---|---|---|
| Custody Type | Civil immigration detention | Criminal arrest and pre-trial custody |
| Run By | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Broward Sheriff's Office |
| Where to Look | ICE Online Detainee Locator | BSO Arrest Search |
| Public Mugshot | No public mugshot gallery | Booking photo on the detail page |
Because the systems do not share a public lookup, a family member who searches only the sheriff's roster will miss an immigration detainee held a few miles away, and a search of the ICE locator will not turn up a county-jail booking.
Broward Transitional Center Lookup Questions
Why can't I find a detainee in the sheriff's arrest search?
Because this is a federal immigration facility, not a county jail. The sheriff's arrest search does not list ICE detainees. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator, or call the facility with the person's biographical details.
What do I need to search the ICE locator?
Either the nine-digit A-number with country of birth, or an exact first name, exact last name, and country of birth. The locator covers current ICE custody and cannot search records for anyone under 18.
Can a detainee receive phone calls?
No. Detainees cannot receive incoming calls. For an urgent message, call the facility with the person's full name, A-number, your name, and a callback number, between the listed daytime hours.
About Broward Transitional Center
Broward Transitional Center is the one detention facility inside Broward County that the sheriff does not run, and that often confuses inmate searches. Federal immigration custody also differs in one more way worth noting: there is no public federal booking-photo gallery, so the locator confirms custody without publishing a mugshot. For county-jail custody and the sheriff's roster, see the jail inmate records page, and for the wider population picture across all systems, see the Broward County inmate population home page.
Note: Confirm custody and the current visitation schedule with the facility or the ICE locator before traveling, since immigration custody and ICE schedules can change quickly.