Democratic lawmakers denied entry to 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigration jail [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Fri 4 Jul 2025 13.36 EDT
Last modified on Fri 4 Jul 2025 13.38 EDT
A group of Florida lawmakers were denied entry on Thursday into the new Florida-based immigration jail dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” one day after the first immigrant detainees began to arrive.
Five Democratic lawmakers attempted to enter the facility, which was previously toured on Tuesday by White House officials, but were stopped by law enforcement officers from local agencies, according to the state representative Anna Eskamani in an interview with CNN.
“This is a blatant abuse of power and an attempt to conceal human rights violations from the public eye,” the five said in a joint statement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the first detentions at the facility began on Wednesday, but did not respond to questions regarding the number of people detained so far.
The controversial Everglades jail was quickly set up in a partnership between the federal and Florida state governments. Sitting approximately 50 miles (80km) west of Miami, the remote facility is managed by the state but in large part funded the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/04/florida-democrats-alligator-alcatraz
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