A week was all it took for Ron DeSantis and the Trump administration to convert a small airstrip in the middle of the Florida Everglades into an immigration detainment camp, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” said to be able to house more than 5,000 migrants.
Despite a “grand opening” where both Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem joined DeSantis to tour the grounds, posing in front of cages for press, and catered by local food trucks such as Churromania (a very popular chain for Miami latinos), security at the camp have turned away Florida legislators attempting to visit the camp in recent weeks.
To put it simply: This is alarming and illegal. According to the Florida Senate, legislators are allowed to visit detention centers “at their pleasure.” However, if they were allowed inside, they would have probably witnessed firsthand how the camp flooded, mere hours after Trump and his party left.
Accounts from detainees have already been circulated, claiming that they have been fed food with maggots, are only allowed to shower once a week, and have seen mosquitoes “the size of elephants” due to the swampy area.
Cuban migrant and detainee at the camp, Rafael Collado, said during a press conference last Tuesday over the phone that the holding cells were like “cages for dogs.” He has been a U.S. resident since 1980.
“Prison security is treating us as if we were inmates; they have us put our hands behind our heads like we’re in El Salvador,” Collado said in Spanish. “They take our clothes, and don’t give us time to eat. They try to get you to talk back and take violent actions towards you.”
After a while, he is cut off from the phone by a security guard, telling him to hang up. According to his wife, Sonia Vichara, she has been unable to contact him since then.
On July 12, legislators were finally allowed “tours” of the camp. Florida Representative Angie Nixon was able to see the intake area, and described seeing detainees “shackled” and begging to speak with the visitors, saying they have been treated “muy mal.”
Another group saw the “holding cells,” where at least 30 people would sleep: a large cage with bunk beds, and three toilets on the ground. While Nixon saw an empty one, she says a group saw one holding cell through an open door, where the men were crying out for “libertad” before their officer guiding the tour shut the door and told them to keep moving.
“My heart dropped because I was like, ‘What kind of country have we become?” Representative Nixon said. “We’ve gone back to the past, and that’s not good.” Nixon and her group were only allowed less than an hour to tour the area, before being whisked away due to “security reasons”, though Nixon says it was likely due to the rain starting.
While more horror stories come out, the state has already begun trying to cover its tracks, quietly redacting documents regarding any government contracts related to the detainment center, unlike with unrelated government contracts on the site.
This isn’t a coincidence. On July 16th, multiple immigrant rights groups and the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit against the Governor, Kristi Noem, and the others involved in the construction of the detention center. According to the lawsuit, lawyers have been unable to reach their clients, detainees are being subjected to brutality, and “the government has further made it virtually impossible for detainees, or their counsel, to file documents required to contest their detention with the immigration court.”
“Attorneys have also attempted to locate a facility phone number, email address, or
any instructions to arrange contact with clients held at the facility, with little to show for their efforts,” the lawsuit reads.
“One attorney contacted ICE’s Miami Field Office, only to be put on hold for approximately one hour before being disconnected. An email address provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, legal@privacy6.com, reported to be used for arranging attorney-client communication at the facility, has resulted in bounced-back messages.”
On ICE’s website, you can search for different field offices and detention centers by state, showing their contact information and address; however, the Everglades camp is not on the website at all, making it close to impossible to contact anyone at the center.
Not only does this make it harder for attorneys to contact their clients at the camp, but it lets the camp operate under the radar, making it easier for them to get away with deplorable conditions.
I contacted Kevin Gutherie, the Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, who has been overseeing this construction, and despite urging the importance of having these contracts be public record, there has been no response. When asked about the conditions of the camp and the safety of the detainees, I again received no response.
Floridian citizens deserve to know exactly where their tax dollars are going, and the redaction of these documents is not only harmful, but intentional, in keeping the anonymity of those who accepted money to work on the construction of this camp. To keep the public informed, I created a spreadsheet with information about those who have contracted with the Governor in making this camp.
And while the receipt to Critical Response Strategies LLC for $78 million has been redacted on the state’s website, thanks to local journalists from BayNews9, we have the downloaded copy. It reveals that these private correctional officers are being paid between $30 and $100 an hour to run these camps. For comparison, the average hourly pay range for a Florida teacher is $20-$35.
This matters not because a new detention center was built in Florida, but because of why it was built. This isn’t a new thing that’s happening. When Japanese Americans were forced from their homes into internment camps during World War 2, it was because then President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, due to the imagined threat they posed after Pearl Harbor.
The same playbook is being used today, with the creation of “Alligator Alcatraz” being allowed, due to the Executive Order Governor DeSantis declared on January 6th, 2023, against “illegal migration”, allowing them to fast-track the creation of this camp. They are not targeting “hardened criminals” but our neighbors, co-workers, families, and friends.
26% of Florida’s population is Latino. In Miami-Dade and surrounding counties, at least 23% of undocumented immigrants reside with a U.S. citizen under the age of 18, and 65% are employed.
Republicans can play semantics, and say they are not targeting a specific group of people, many are openly saying the quiet part out loud, like far-right extremist Laura Loomer, who wrote on X that “Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals now.” (65 million Latinos are estimated to live in the United States.)
Florida republicans have long made Latino immigrants the villains in their heads, and are using the same playbook they’ve used for decades against minorities they’d like to snuff out against us now. This camp is testing the waters to see how much they can get away with without any consequences, counting on the indifference of its citizens.
It’s not only up to Floridians, but citizens everywhere, to step up, call their representatives, and advocate to put an end to Ron DeSantis’s outdated executive order, and to shut down Alligator Alcatraz. Because while this first camp was built in Florida, it’s already setting a precedent, with FEMA announcing its plans to send over $608 million to U.S. states to construct more detention centers.
The post, which has now been conveniently deleted, says that states have until Aug. 8 to apply for funds, so reach out to your state governor and other state lawmakers and urge them to reject this grant money.
Immigrants make our country great, and despite what those in power might have you believe, you have the power to express that this is not the route we want to keep going down. In 50 years, when our children look back at history books and ask what we did in the face of fascism, will you be able to say you helped resist? Or that you bought merch.
Find your U.S. Representative here.
Izzy Writes 
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