Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after being blocked

OCHOPEE Fla AP Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida s new Everglades immigration detention center after visiting Saturday describing it as crowded unsanitary and bug-infested Republicans on the same tour announced they saw nothing of the sort at the remote facility that authorities have dubbed Alligator Alcatraz The state-arranged tour came after particular Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the -bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland So multiple state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups There are really disturbing vile conditions and this place demands to be shut the hell down U S Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz a Democrat informed reporters after visiting the agglomeration of tents trailers and temporary buildings This place is a stunt and they re abusing human beings here Cage-style units of men share three combination toilet-sink devices the visitors measured the temperature at degrees degrees Celsius in a housing area entranceway and Celsius in a physiological intake area and grasshoppers and other insects abound she and her fellow Florida Democrats revealed Although the visitors reported they were not able to speak with the detainees Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost also a Democrat mentioned one called out I m an American citizen and others chanted Libertad Spanish for freedom State Sen Blaise Ingoglia a Republican from Florida countered that he had seen a well-run safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality disclosed Ingoglia who mentioned he toured in the same group as Wasserman Schultz Ingoglia noted a handful of detainees became a little raucous when the visitors appeared but he did not make out what they were saying State Sen Jay Collins was in another group and reported he also determined the detention center to be clean and functioning well No squalor Collins a Republican noted he saw backup generators a tracking system for dietary restrictions and military-style bunks with good mattresses The sanitation devices struck him as appropriate if basic Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house Likely not but this is a transitional holding facility Collins announced by phone Journalists were not allowed on the tour and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Crisis Management which built the facility and to representatives for Gov Ron DeSantis a Republican DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia s upbeat readouts on social media Across the state in Tampa federal Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem declared that of the Everglades detention center that any issues that were there have been addressed She added that she has talked with five unnamed Republican governors about modeling other facilities on it DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center constructed in days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump s call for mass deportations The first detainees arrived July after Trump toured and praised the facility Described as temporary it is meant to help the Republican president s administration reach its goal of boosting migrant detention ceiling from people to at least 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 Ahead of the facility s opening state agents announced detainees would have access to medicinal care consistent air conditioning a recreation yard attorneys and clergy members But detainees and their relatives and advocates have reported The Associated Press that conditions are awful with worm-infested food toilets overflowing onto floors mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat One man described his wife that detainees go days without getting showers Division of Exigency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions altogether false saying detainees consistently get three meals a day unlimited drinking water showers and other necessities The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order she announced Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site July but explained they were denied access The state subsequently arranged Saturday s tour The lawmakers have sued over the earlier denial accusing the DeSantis administration of impeding their oversight authority A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit dumb Peltz communicated from New York and Rodriguez revealed from Ochopee