{"id":327436,"date":"2025-08-22T21:03:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T01:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=327436"},"modified":"2025-08-22T21:07:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T01:07:00","slug":"alligator-alcatraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/usa\/alligator-alcatraz\/","title":{"rendered":"Alligator Alcatraz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Promoted by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and supported by Governor Ron DeSantis, new words entered the U.S. political and media vocabulary in July 2024: Alligator Alcatraz.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a facility designed to detain and imprison undocumented immigrants deep in the Everglades swamps for eventual deportation. It is symptomatically located less than 50 miles west of President Trump\u2019s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.<\/span><\/p>\n

Its name obviously alludes to the legendary Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, but is used to denote its remote location and tight security measures. \u201cWe had a request from the federal government to (create the facility), and so \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 it is,\u201d DeSantis said at a press conference, thus effectively adopting the nickname coined by his attorney general.<\/span><\/p>\n

The governor asserted that these facilities were <\/span>\u201ctemporary and necessary\u201d<\/b><\/a> to ease the burden on law enforcement agencies and prisons. He said they would be a \u201cforce multiplier\u201d in the Trump administration\u2019s increasing efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. \u201cClearly from a security perspective, if someone escapes, there\u2019s a lot of alligators you\u2019re going to have to contend (with),\u201d he emphasized.<\/span><\/p>\n

The center is supported primarily by funding provided by the Florida government. According to reports, the DeSantis administration has signed contracts worth around $245 million for its construction and operation. It is estimated to cost around <\/span>$450 million annually.<\/b><\/p>\n

Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the federal government has provided funding for the Shelter and Services program, used to finance immigration detention centers. Although the state of Florida has fronted the cost, it is expected to recover it through reimbursements from FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).<\/span><\/p>\n

This fact already presents a first problem. The contracts for its construction and maintenance were awarded without public bidding, which has only generated criticism for a lack of transparency. Some have benefited companies linked to Republican politicians, with the potential conflicts of interest involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is a second problem: it was built in record time on an abandoned airstrip within the <\/span>Big Cypress National Preserve<\/b><\/a>, without any environmental impact assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

And a third, no less important, aspect. Practically from its inception, various civil society organizations \u2014 human rights and environmental groups, among others \u2014 have expressed their criticism of the facility\u2019s inadequate conditions and legal and environmental implications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, since its inauguration, testimonies from inmates and their families have highlighted the facility\u2019s poor conditions, including flooding, lack of access to and quality of food and hygiene problems, along with practices such as coercing detainees into signing deportation documents without legal representation. They have also alluded to the difficulties lawyers face in accessing their clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this last regard, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit alleging serious abuses and denial of due process. It has also requested <\/span>its closure.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Native Americans<\/b><\/h3>\n

For generations, the wetlands of the southern Florida peninsula have served as home to the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes. \u201cRather than the Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wilderness for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, Big Cypress is the tribe\u2019s traditional territory. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,\u201d Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress said in <\/span>a statement.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

There are approximately 15 Miccosukee and Seminole villages within a three-mile radius of Alligator Alcatraz. Nearby, about 1,000 feet away, is the Panther-Osceola Camp, where Native American members regularly host cultural activities and sacred ceremonies.<\/span><\/p>\n