Democrats were not allowed to talk to detainees or examine their cells.
“Alligator Alcatraz” may soon come to other states, Noem says
Homeland Security’s Christie Nom has announced consultations with five states to replicate the Crocodile Alcatraz, an immigration detention center in O’Copy, Florida.
- Democrats toured the “Crocodile Alcatraz” detention facility and reported their inhumanity.
- Concerns have been raised regarding sanitation, access to clean water and medical care within the facility.
- The facility, which aims to house 3,000 detainees, was built over eight days on the Everglades runway.
- Republican lawmakers who previously toured the facility gave a different explanation of the terms.
- “What I saw has sunk my heart,” said a US representative Maxwell Frost.
Congressional Democrats called the Wannial Catraz Immigration Detention Center in Florida’s Everglades “vile”, “inhumane” and “gross” and pledged that authorities would take responsibility, and Congressional Democrats toured the facility on July 12th.
“People were screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’ said Senator Maxwell Frost. “I heard someone behind me say, ‘I’m a US citizen.’ ”
Frost said the center had around 1,000 male detainees, mostly Hispanic. There is a cell to accommodate 3,000 detainees, and he said workers will soon add 1,000 more beds.
He told him on Saturday that the average stay would be two weeks before deportation.
“When those doors opened, what I saw sank my heart,” said Frost, the son of the first millennial and Cuban immigrants to be elected to Congress. “I saw 32 people per cage, about six in one tent. I saw a lot of young men who looked like me, and people of my age.”
Lawmakers said they were not allowed to observe them from the entrance to the tent, examine the cells or talk to detainees.
“As we were leaving, they started chanting, ‘Libertado, libertado, freedom,'” Frost said.
Previously entering the O’Copy Detention Center, about 75 miles west of Miami, Democrats in the Congress and Florida State Legislature had a very different take than the Republicans who toured more than 10 days ago.
The 39 acres of compound targeting immigrants for deportation were constructed in a hurry in eight days.
Republicans called the food “delicious” and spoke about how comfortable the detainee’s beds are, saying the facility meets all the detention center standards.
The Democrats disagreed.
“They shouldn’t put humans in the middle of the Everglades swamp. That’s outrageous. It’s inhuman. It’s illegal,” Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said.
Flood and backup toilets
Frost spoke in virtual calls with Naples Daily News, part of the USA Today Network, and other news outlets.
But their attempts were blocked, he said.
“Federal law requires members of Congress to allow unpublished visits,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We are confident that the nation made it the wind and decided to set up this fake tour.”
Frost said he was spoken to attorneys and the family of detainees. “There’s a flood. There’s been reports of toilets not working, and we’ve backed up and the feces are flooded into the sleeping cage.
Wasserman Schultz added that “detainees are forced to turn on the lights and sleep all night and have no access to lawyers,” noting concerns that “the facility is violating lands of different tribes.”
“Gloss” toilet tank contains spigots of drinking water
Frost detailed what he witnessed. “I was in the facility for about two hours and all I saw was a horrible condition and a cage,” he said. “… There are three toilets in each cage for a group of 32 people and their drinking water comes from the toilet.
“There’s a little patience on the toilet. That’s where they drink water. …It’s gross, it’s a disgusting thing, and this is where people are being held.”
The Democratic pledge is “there is a hearing.”
“This will be accountable,” Frost said.
Wasserman Schultz was more direct.
“This place needs to close hell,” she said.
J. Kyle Foster of USA Today Network contributed to this report. cOlumnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) Grows up and leads in southwest Florida Pulitzer Prize– Practical battle.
