Dem lawmakers to inspect 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention center, citing safety concerns

Fox News

a day ago

Multiple Democratic lawmakers will visit "Alligator Alcatraz," a new illegal immigrant detention center being constructed near the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, on Thursday.
The "official legislative site visit" is in response to what officials claim is "a series of deeply troubling developments at the state-run immigrant detention facility," according to a news release.
Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones and Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith will be joined by state representatives Anna Eskamani, Angie Nixon and Michele Rayner.
The visit comes days after President Donald Trump toured the state site alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Democrats alleged illegal immigrants were transferred to the detention center Wednesday night when the site was "reportedly" flooded due to rain.
They claimed the rain, which rolled in less than a week after the previously unoccupied airport facility opened to illegal immigrants, "exacerbate[ed] concerns about safety and emergency readiness in an already volatile environment," according to the release.
"We are exercising our legal authority as state legislators to inspect this remote, taxpayer-funded facility at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport," the lawmakers wrote in a joint statement. "This is not a federal project — it is fully funded, operated, and approved by the State of Florida under Governor DeSantis. And what's happening here is un-American.
"Alligator Alcatraz represents a makeshift detention camp of cruelty, rooted in a corrupt, no-bid, $450 million pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement."
The 30-square-mile property will be home to 5,000 ICE detainees and is guarded by alligators and pythons.
Trump officials announced Tuesday the project was approved, and crews started working on the transformation Monday.
"What we're witnessing isn't about security or solving problems — it's about inhumane political theater that endangers real people," the Democrats wrote in the statement. "Reports of extreme heat, flooding, structural issues, environmental threats, and human rights violations demand immediate oversight. As lawmakers, we have both the legal right and moral responsibility to inspect this site, demand answers, and expose this abuse before it becomes the national blueprint.
"So much of this is also a distraction from the everyday issues all Floridians are facing, like housing affordability and the property insurance crisis," they added. "DeSantis should be focused on solving those issues, not creating even more chaos."
The "inspection" comes two months after Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center where three members of Congress also stormed the facility's gate, demanding they be allowed to conduct an "oversight visit."
While Baraka was arrested for trespassing, he was released hours later and charges were dropped.
In addition to the lawmakers' in-person visit, multiple environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit on Friday claiming officials needed to pause construction to allow time to evaluate the potential ecological impacts of the renovations.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Fox News Digital a "lazy" lawsuit, filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity in the Southern District of Florida, "ignores the fact that this land has already been developed for a decade."
DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.