Green Card Holder Detained in Alligator Alcatraz Speaks Out

Newsweek

2 days ago

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Cuban reggaeton artist and U.S. permanent resident Leamsy Izquierdo, known artistically as Leamsy La Figura, alleges that detainees at the newly opened "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in Florida are enduring unsanitary, cold and inhumane conditions.
Newsweek reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for comment.
Why It Matters
Izquierdo has been at the detention center since Friday. His case brings renewed attention to ongoing controversies about the treatment of detainees, particularly migrants and non-citizen residents, at U.S. immigration facilities. His arrest and subsequent transfer to an immigration detention site highlights the risks that green card holders face when charged with criminal offenses.
The detention center, created quickly on Everglades land and now holding an estimated 400 people, has triggered concern from both human rights advocates and the Cuban-American community. But it's been widely praised by the Trump administration and many of the president's supporters.
What To Know
Izquierdo, 34, described long periods without showers, lack of basic hygiene supplies, inadequate food and constant lighting within the makeshift Everglades compound.
"I haven't showered for four days, there's no water, no toothpaste, they don't let you out for even a minute," he said in a phone call with his partner, Katia Hernández. She later shared details about the call on Instagram and helped his situation gain traction with Cuban social media influencers, according to Ciber Cuba.
"We are in a cage of metal bars with the lights on 24 hours a day, and the mosquitoes seem like elephants," he added.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds up a sign encouraging undocumented migrants to "self-deport" during a roundtable discussion as she visits a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," located at the site of the...
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds up a sign encouraging undocumented migrants to "self-deport" during a roundtable discussion as she visits a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida, on July 1, 2025. More
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
He also said the facility is "about minus two degrees," adding: "Everyone is in T-shirts, shaking, screaming their heads off. This is hell. There are no Latino officers, just African-American kids or super racist women."
Izquierdo was transferred to the facility following a July 2 arrest on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and simple assault in Miami-Dade County. He was first taken to Turner Guliford Knight Correctional Center and then to Miramar before being transferred to Alligator Alcatraz.
Hernández said that although Izquierdo paid a $6,000 bail, an "ICE hold" prevented his release.
"He never attacked anyone," she told Telemundo 51, adding that he's a lawful permanent resident. "The police didn't give him time to explain."
Alligator Alcatraz, located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Big Cypress National Preserve, opened in early July 2025 following rapid construction.
Government officials established the center to hold hundreds of migrants in custody pending a review of their legal status and potential deportation proceedings.
Others within the facility have expressed similar sentiments as Izquierdo and one Colombian national told NBC Miami he's been at the facility three days without his medicine.
State officials have denied allegations of inhumane and unsanitary treatment at the detention center.
"The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false," Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told CBS News. "The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order."
No independent oversight body has released findings related to the facility and officials have declined to confirm the total number of detainees, facility protocols, or eligibility for bail and visits, according to NBC Miami.
A recent poll from YouGov also found that a plurality of Americans do not support the detention center. Forty-eight percent of Americans are opposed to Alligator Alcatraz, while just 33 percent said they support it. Eighteen percent of respondents were unsure how they felt about it.
What People Are Saying
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement in late June: "Under President Trump's leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people's mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens."
Noem also wrote in a post to X: "Alligator Alcatraz can be a blueprint for detention facilities across the country. It will provide DHS with the beds and space needed to safely detain the worst of the worst."
Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, wrote in a statement: "As President Trump doubled down on his agenda of fear and division, we're reminded that this cruel and inhumane stunt is part of a broader strategy to expand the abusive mass detention machine, and in turn, criminalize and disappear members of our communities. Building a prison-like facility on sacred indigenous land in the middle of the Everglades is a direct assault on humanity, dignity, indigenous sovereignty, and the constitutional protections we all share."
What Happens Next
It remains unclear how long Izquierdo will be held at Alligator Alcatraz, or whether further review of his legal status will result in release, deportation, or prosecution in state or federal court.