Inside Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’: worms in food, sewage near beds
The US president and his allies have praised the detention centre’s harshness, hoping it will help persuade immigrants to ‘self-deport’
Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with faecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved ones.
Only days after US President Donald Trump toured a new immigration detention centre in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, these are some of the conditions described by people held inside.
Lawyers, advocates, detainees and families are speaking out about the makeshift migrant detention centre Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. The centre began accepting detainees on July 2.
“These are human beings who have inherent rights, and they have a right to dignity,” immigration lawyer Josephine Arroyo said. “And they’re violating a lot of their rights by putting them there.”
Government officials have adamantly disputed the conditions described by detainees, their lawyers and family members, but have provided few details, and have denied access to the media.
A televised tour for Trump and DeSantis showed rows of chain-link cages, each containing dozens of bunk beds, under large white tents.