Hundreds of immigrants with no criminal charges are being held at a state-run immigration detention camp in the Florida Everglades that President Trump and his allies have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to records obtained by the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times.
Even before the facility opened earlier this month, the site and the conditions within it have been the subject of speculation and controversy.
Anna Eskamani, a Democratic state lawmaker in Florida’s House of Representatives, recently toured the mysterious immigration center.
5 questions with Anna Eskamani
What did you see on the tour?
“First of all, it’s important to stress that this was a state-curated and scripted tour hosted in an effort to prevent more of a PR [public relations] disaster due to personal stories being shared by this detention facility through loved ones of those detained, and of course, based on the environmental impact of being built in the middle of the Everglades. I can tell you that even though this was scripted, there is no way to sanitize the existence of people in cages.
“This facility is a tent city that’s going to cost the state of Florida more than half a billion dollars. And the cages are horrific. There are 32 beds per cage, eight cages per tent. Two hundred and fifty men, all Latino men overwhelmingly, who were chanting at us ‘freedom’ in Spanish, trying to get us to help as much as we could, and we were being held back by private security, as the entire facility is not run by professionals; it’s run by contractors. And so it was a very difficult experience. And of course, we have sued the state of Florida to demand our ability to have unfettered access to this facility. It’s essential that we not only work to shut it down, but that we do what we can to ensure the health and safety of those that are there.”
How do you square the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s defense of the facility with what you observed?
“I can say that the Florida Executive Director of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, referred to the cages as cells. He referred to those who are staying there as prisoners, detainees. So, there’s clearly talking points that are not being shared across the board.
“The reality is that in this facility, it is incredibly difficult to be detained there, let alone even work there. The mosquitoes are intense. Yes, there’s air conditioning funneled through these tents, but they’re not sustainable in the sense that when you have 250 men in one tent, I mean, it’s not going to stay cool. The men were partly undressed because it was so hot. They were taking off their jumpsuits.
“And when they arrive, despite the fact that hundreds have no criminal record, they’re chained at their ankles and at their hands, and then together. It’s not an environment that anyone should be in. And, the lack of due process, I think, is also a part of our concern. Attorneys are struggling to speak to their clients, and according to director Guthrie, he said that every person detained there has deportation orders, which is not true.”
How do you know that’s not true?
“It’s not true based on a few factors. One is that we have many attorneys who have individuals being detained that are DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients], that are asylum seekers, that have court appointments scheduled. And if you have a court appointment, you may be eligible for a bond. There’s legal pathways that folks are fighting right now. And so that type of rhetoric concerns me because it speaks to this effort to remove individuals, even though they may have legal standing in this country. And it’s so important for us to stand up and speak out against this.”
Why are you suing the administration, and what have you heard from them in response to that suit?
“As state representatives, we have the ability to visit state prisons and jails unannounced all the time. It’s something I prioritize in my tenure. So we want that same type of access and feel like it is our statutory obligation and authority to do so. So that’s what we’re fighting for.”
In a statement given to multiple outlets, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said that the lawsuit was “frivolous” and “dumb” and was looking forward to “dispensing” with it. Have you heard from them?
“Unfortunately, this is the type of pettiness and cartoonish behavior we’re dealing with in Florida, but we’re going to continue to fight this in court and fight for all of our communities.”
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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Hafsa Quraishi produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Michael Scotto. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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