Democrats called for a shutdown of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after ‘staged’ visit

MIAMI — Democrats on Saturday called for the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” after touring the controversial pop-up tent immigration detention center that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly assembled in the Everglades.

DeSantis has looked to match President Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration, painting his state as an eager partner in the president’s plan to detain and deport potentially millions of immigrants.

At least five members of Congress and roughly 20 state legislators toured the detention center over the weekend, the first inspection by elected officials of the area since it opened about a week ago. Trump visited the site ahead of detainees arriving earlier this month, accompanied by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and since then news accounts of dire living conditions have emerged.

While Republicans insisted that the facility was appropriate and clean, and staffed similar to any detention facility, Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about food quantity, drinking water and high temperatures, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz calling the facility an “internment camp.”

“They are essentially packed into cages, wall to wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” she said in a news conference following the tour.

Democrats also said they thought they got a “sanitized” version of the center, and complained they were not allowed to talk to detainees or enter the tents where people were living so that they could get a better look and understanding of the conditions.

Members were shown areas where food was being prepared and a tent where medical care was being provided.

GOP state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally, defended the conditions as “clean, air conditioned and well-kept,” and said he laid on one of the beds and thought it was comfortable. He countered that lawmakers would be allowed to talk to detainees if they requested a specific person by name, at least 48 hours in advance, under ICE rules.

“The rhetoric does not match the reality,” Ingoglia said. “It’s basically all political theater coming from the [Democrats]. What they’re saying is pure bullshit.”

The visiting lawmakers were not allowed to bring phones, cameras or any other electronic devices with them, and while members of Congress were permitted to bring staff, state lawmakers were not. Kevin Guthrie — Florida’s executive director of emergency management who was at one point considered to lead FEMA under the Trump administration — led the tour, members told POLITICO.

Republican state Sen. Jay Collins, who’s on the short list to be the next lieutenant governor of Florida and runs a nonprofit that does disaster relief, said it was similar to the facilities he has seen in emergency situations and when he was in the military. He noted there were backup generators and praised the setup as going “above and beyond.”

“This is one of several stops along the way for people who are detained by ICE as they go back to their country of origin,” he said.

But Democrats, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, accused the state of obscuring potentially dangerous and unsanitary conditions.

In the future, Frost said he plans to show up unannounced — an ability members of Congress have for federal facilities — to speak with family members of those detained. He also criticized the arrangement between Florida and federal officials on who is actually running the facility.

“There was so much ambiguity on under what authority people are being held here, and whether this is a state facility or federal facility,” he said. “What we heard was very clear: ICE is giving them the directions from A to Z.”

Democratic members of Congress said they’d already planned on showing up at the facility unannounced on Saturday before the DeSantis administration announced official tours. State Democratic lawmakers showed up uninvited on July 3, but were turned away because of security concerns. They sued in response.

Many of those lawmakers returned for Saturday’s tour, including state Sens. Shevrin Jones of Miami Gardens and Carlos Guillermo Smith and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, both of Orlando.

“Alligator Alcatraz” has drawn backlash among environmentalists — who have sued to try to stop it — as well as Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans who privately conceded they’re worried about the area’s fragile ecosystem and effects on tribal lands. But lawmakers told POLITICO they didn’t have time to ask questions about the environment.

Democratic state House leader Fentrice Driskell drew attention to how expensive she said the facility was to the state in an interview, which is estimated to cost $450 million a year. It’s not clear how much of the expenses will ultimately be reimbursed by the federal government, and an email to the state’s emergency division inquiring was not immediately returned.

“We are talking about tents, metal bedding with very thin mattresses and pillows,” Driskell said, adding that restrooms and showers were “jail-like.”

Members did not get many questions answered, she said, and were instead encouraged to file public records requests when they asked about which contractors were hired to provide services and what kinds of crimes detainees had been accused of committing, other than illegal border entry.

Driskell said her tour was abruptly cut short due to a security issue that they didn’t get any additional information about. Her group had a dozen lawmakers present, and she accused the state of trying to “put its best foot forward” and that the tour was “pre-planned and staged.”

Asked why Republicans had such vastly different impressions, Driskell replied: “If you only see what was shown and don’t have a problem already with rounding up immigrants — even if some of them have not committed crimes — then you would be OK with what you saw.”

Kimberly Leonard reported from Miami.