Lawmaker says Alligator Alcatraz is an ‘internment camp' after joint GOP-Dem visit: ‘Packed into cages'
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida 's 25th congressional district, said that pictures of the facility 'don't do it justice' and that detainees were being 'packed into cages.'
On Saturday Florida lawmakers from both parties took a state-arranged tour of the new 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland in the Everglades.
Speaking at a press conference following the tour, Wasserman Schultz said that the walk-through had been 'sanitized' but conditions were nonetheless 'appalling.'
'They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,' she told reporters. 'The only thing inside those cages are their bunk beds, and there are three tiny toilets.'
The units, Wasserman Schultz said, have sinks attached to the toilet resulting in detainees having to 'brush their teeth where they poop.' There was minimal privacy for any person inside, she added.
'This place needs to be shut the hell down. They're abusing human beings in cages,' the congresswoman later added in a post on X.
Trump and his allies, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 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 the president's call for mass deportations.
Described as temporary, the detention center is meant to help the administration reach its goal of boosting the U.S. migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000.
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.
Despite the outrage of Democrats like Wasserman Schultz, other Republicans who took the tour said the conditions were 'clean, air conditioned and well-kept.'
'The rhetoric does not match the reality,' said State Senator Blaise Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally. 'It's basically all political theater coming from the [Democrats]. What they're saying is pure bullshit.'
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Daily Mail
35 minutes ago
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Trump says he spoke to FBI boss amid Epstein uproar
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36 minutes ago
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37 minutes ago
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Donald Trump managed something unusual last week. In his administration's claim that it did not have a list of Jeffery Epstein's alleged clients, and that the convicted sex offender was not murdered, it succeeded in upsetting the right-wing influencers and commentators – and reportedly even Trump's deputy FBI director – people who typically champion his every move. 'This stinks. This just reeks,' was the verdict of Jesse Watters, the primetime Fox News host. He added: 'The feds spent decades investigating Epstein and have had total access to his property for years, they still cannot give us a straight answer? This is not anything new; the government has been keeping us in the dark for generations.' Watters was careful not to criticize the Trump administration directly, blaming 'the feds' as he described Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, as 'great Americans'. There was also tumult within the Trump administration. 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And it didn't have to be,' said Jack Posobiec, who promoted the baseless theory that high-level Democrats were running a child sex ring out of a Washington pizzeria. Posobiec was among a group of rightwing influencers who were given binders labeled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' during a visit to the White House in February – although many were disappointed that those documents contained little new information. The ire was also inspired by the justice department releasing an 11-hour video showing the exterior of Epstein's door, apparently in an effort to show no one entered his cell at the time he died. But a minute of the video was missing, which satisfied few on the right. 'There are some extremely bizarre things about the video of Epstein's cell that Pam Bondi's DOJ released as proof no one killed him. First, a full minute appears to be missing from the video and secondly, it does NOT appear to be the same cell as the photo released on Jan 5, 2020,' wrote Robby Starbuck, a rightwing influencer and Trump supporter. 'Anyone else find this extremely troubling?' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Others were more direct. 'NO ONE IS BUYING THIS!! Next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed.' This is over the top sickening,' Alex Jones, the rightwing commentator and conspiracy theorist, wrote on social media. The lackluster release also left others, outside of the far-right, dissatisfied. Andrew Schulz, the host of the Flagrant podcast, who interviewed Trump in October and said he voted for him, included the Epstein saga as part of his reason for feeling let down by the president. 'When you feel like the status quo will do nothing and change nothing, you have way more of a longer leash for the outsiders' ideas than you do the status quo's ideas,' Schulz said, talking about Trump's appeal. 'And I think that was the idea with Trump, it was like: 'Maybe he will stop these wars.' No. 'Maybe we will see what's up with this Epstein shit.' No.' Trump, who once enjoyed a friendship with Epstein, said in the run up to last year's election that he would declassify files related to Epstein, although he added: 'You don't want to affect people's lives if there's phony stuff in there, because there's a lot of phony stuff in that whole world.' At a cabinet meeting this week, however, Trump expressed surprise that people were 'still talking' about Epstein, suggesting that the president was, for once, out of touch with his Maga base.'This guy's been talked about for years,' Trump said, describing Epstein as a 'creep'. That failed to quell the anger, however, prompting Trump to write a lengthy Truth Social post over the weekend, pleading for calm from his supporters. 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?' They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.' He added: 'One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it's the 'HOTTEST' Country anywhere in the World. Let's keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.' The replies to Trump's post, however, suggested his appeal had not worked. 'My wanting pedophiles to be punished for their crimes doesn't make me less of a patriot, but more,' one user wrote. 'I don't understand the reason for your current attitude and frankly I'm beyond the point of caring. I do care about justice, wether [sic] you approve or not.'
