First deportation flights leave Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ as lawsuits mount

The first flights from “Alligator Alcatraz,” Florida’s controversial immigration detention center nestled in the Everglades, departed this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday, July 25. Planes took off while immigration advocates, environmentalists and a former immigration commissioner criticized the facility for its conditions, spurring at least one lawsuit. 

DeSantis announced the flights to a crowd of reporters gathered at the facility, saying he and President Donald Trump are on a mission to increase immigrant deportations. DeSantis, a Republican, suggested that the site’s operations will soon expand, as the state works to authorize more judges and law enforcement officers to handle immigration cases and detainees. 

“This was never intended to be something where people are held and we kind of twiddle our thumbs,” DeSantis said. “The whole purpose is to make this a place that can increase the frequency and number of deportations of illegal aliens.”

Officials used the Friday conference to combat criticism surrounding the detention center, saying detainees have recreation areas, air conditioning, three meals a day and protection during Category 1 and Category 2 hurricanes. 

However, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on July 16 against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, alleging violations of due process for the people held there. 

Advocates, officials debate conditions 

Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said on July 25 that his team has worked nonstop during hurricane season to prepare and protect Floridians during severe storms, and applied the same ethos to Alligator Alcatraz, named for the reptiles that surround it. 

He said the facility was designed to withstand winds of up to 110 mph, and if a storm worsens, a contingency plan is in place to evacuate detainees. 

Guthrie disputed accounts by immigrants’ lawyers and others who say conditions in the facility are inhumane.

“Our on-site services include hot meal services three times a day — not gray turkey,” Guthrie said. “Full medical care including a 24/7 clinic and pharmacy, indoor and outdoor recreational space, laundry, legal and clergy services, air conditioning in detention housing units.” 

Approximately 200 Florida National Guardsmen and 400 security personnel are monitoring the $450 million facility.  The Associated Press reported Tuesday, July 22, that DeSantis’ administration has signed contracts worth at least $245 million to set up and run the facility. Florida taxpayers will pay those costs.

The AP found that the governor’s office awarded at least two dozen contracts under an executive order that declared unauthorized immigration an emergency. One contractor is providing a warden, camp managers, information technology workers and corrections officers.

Even some supporters of stricter immigration policies aren’t happy about the facility. 

Mark Morgan, a former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, wrote in an opinion piece on Fox News that deporting immigrants en masse requires beds, buses and planes. He added the beds should be in “real detention facilities and actual jails” instead of a setup like the one in the Everglades. His piece took issue with the facility being constructed in a way that’s costly and vulnerable to being dismantled by a new presidential administration.

“If temporary staging space is truly needed, there are already tools available: state and local jails, which had an estimated 247,000 open beds nationwide as of mid-2023, can be contracted at scale to bridge the gap — without wasting permanent money on corruptible, short-lived camps built for headlines,” Morgan wrote. 

Legal battles surround facility

Despite the claims of state officials, the ACLU said conditions in the facility are abysmal, with hot temperatures, swarms of mosquitoes, flooding inside tents, backed-up portable toilets and sewage lines, inadequate food and denial of religious rights. The civil rights organization added that the federal government barred detainees from legal counsel and opportunities to exchange information with lawyers confidentially. 

“These restrictions violate the First and Fifth Amendment rights of people being detained, as well as the First Amendment rights of legal service organizations and law firms with clients held at the facility,” the ACLU said.

According to the lawsuit, lawyers made the meeting requests at the facility’s checkpoint. However, they were later told by Florida National Guard or state police officials that in-person visitations weren’t allowed. 

However, Larry Keefe, executive director of the Florida Board of Immigration Enforcement, said Friday, July 25, that people held in the facility are able to exercise their due process rights.

Another lawsuit, filed by the environmental groups Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, alleged that state and federal officials failed to conduct an environmental review of the site and are violating the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and national park laws.

The state is contesting the venue for the lawsuit, and the environmental groups are seeking an injunction. U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams has scheduled a hearing for July 30.