Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after being blocked
OCHOPEE Fla AP Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida s new Everglades immigration detention center after a state-arranged visit Saturday describing a crowded unsanitary and bug-infested facility that executives have dubbed Alligator Alcatraz A Republican on the same tour declared he saw nothing of the sort The tour came after several Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the -bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland So countless state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups to view the facility There are really disturbing vile conditions and this place demands to be shut the hell down Rep U S Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz a Democrat from Florida reported reporters after visiting This place is a stunt and they re abusing human beings here Cage-style units of men share three combination toilet-sink devices the visitors measured the temperature at degrees degrees Celsius in one area that was billed as air-conditioned and grasshoppers and other insects abound she and other Democrats noted Although the visitors mentioned they weren t able to speak with the detainees Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost a Democrat from Florida noted one called out I m an American and others chanting Libertad a Spanish word for freedom State Sen Blaise Ingoglia a Republican from Florida countered that he had seen a well-run safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well He recalled that a handful of detainees became a little raucous when the visitors appeared but declared he didn t make out what they were saying The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality he explained by phone It s a detention center not the Four Seasons Journalists weren t allowed on the tour and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management which built the facility and to representatives for Gov Ron DeSantis DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia s upbeat readouts on social media DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center an agglomeration of tents trailers and temporary buildings constructed in a matter of days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump s call for mass deportations The first detainees arrived July after Trump toured and praised the facility Described as temporary the detention center is meant to help the Republican president s administration reach its goal of boosting the United States migrant detention ceiling from people to at least The Florida facility s remote location and its name a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration Ahead of the facility s opening state leaders announced detainees would have access to clinical care consistent air conditioning a recreation yard attorneys and clergy members But detainees and their relatives and advocates have notified The Associated Press that conditions are awful with worm-infested food toilets overflowing onto floors mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat One man recounted his wife that detainees go days without getting showers Florida Division of Crisis Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions wholly false saying detainees invariably get three meals a day unlimited drinking water showers and other necessities The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order she declared Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site when it opened July but mentioned they were denied access The state subsequently arranged Saturday s tour The lawmakers have sued over the denial saying that DeSantis administration is impeding lawmakers oversight authority A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit dumb As Democratic leaders headed into the facility they revealed they expected to be given a sanitized and limited view Wasserman Schultz described reporters the lawmakers came anyway because they wished to ask questions and get a sense of the structure and conditions
