The Florida ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Miami-Date County over the growing colony of registered sex offenders who are forced to live under a bridge, due to strict residency restrictions. From the Miami Herald:
[T]he American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sued Miami-Dade County, arguing that the state's rule that sex offenders must live at least 1,000 feet from where children congregate supersedes the county's stricter 2,500-foot law.
Then, the city of Miami ordered its attorney to prepare a lawsuit against the state for placing the offenders -- whose legal addresses are under the causeway -- too close to a barrier island that it considers a park.
Though no one has proposed a solution, the ACLU and the city say they simply want to clean up the shantytown that is now spilling out from under the bridge, and find those living there a respectable and safe place to live. Under the 2,500-foot law, convicted sex offenders have no other place to live in the county that does not violate the rule.
The vagrants -- many of them homeless convicted felons -- live in shacks in a no-man's land that has generated national debate over the consequences of residency laws for sex offenders.
The local laws aim to drive out the colony, which has surged to as many as 140 people and has earned Miami some unflattering attention for two years.
The ACLU's lawsuit names two people who live under the bridge as plaintiffs. It claims the county's ordinance is also a threat to public safety because it forces sex offenders into homelessness, makes them abscond and impedes law enforcement from keeping track of them.
Then, the city of Miami ordered its attorney to prepare a lawsuit against the state for placing the offenders -- whose legal addresses are under the causeway -- too close to a barrier island that it considers a park.
Though no one has proposed a solution, the ACLU and the city say they simply want to clean up the shantytown that is now spilling out from under the bridge, and find those living there a respectable and safe place to live. Under the 2,500-foot law, convicted sex offenders have no other place to live in the county that does not violate the rule.
The vagrants -- many of them homeless convicted felons -- live in shacks in a no-man's land that has generated national debate over the consequences of residency laws for sex offenders.
The local laws aim to drive out the colony, which has surged to as many as 140 people and has earned Miami some unflattering attention for two years.
The ACLU's lawsuit names two people who live under the bridge as plaintiffs. It claims the county's ordinance is also a threat to public safety because it forces sex offenders into homelessness, makes them abscond and impedes law enforcement from keeping track of them.
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