A bunch of Senate and Home Democrats is pushing officers on the Division of Homeland Safety for extra details about using the immigration detention facility within the Florida Everglades generally known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
In a letter despatched late Tuesday to the heads of the Division of Homeland Safety, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and FEMA, the lawmakers expressed concern that the Trump administration’s resolution to make use of what lawmakers known as a “novel state-run immigration detention mannequin” might violate federal legislation and make the federal authorities much less accountable for the situations at immigrant detention facilities.
The letter comes because the Trump administration has embraced the mannequin of utilizing state-run facilities — versus federal or personal ones — to detain noncitizens throughout immigration proceedings, together with utilizing a shuttered state jail as a further website in Florida, dubbed “Deportation Depot,” and increasing ICE detention house in an Indiana correctional facility dubbed the “Speedway Slammer” and in a Nebraska facility to be known as “Cornhusker Clink.”
“Consultants fear this novel state-run immigration detention mannequin will enable Florida to create an ‘unbiased, unaccountable detention system’ that runs parallel to the federal detention system,” the group of eight senators and 57 representatives wrote.
The “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility has been the topic of intense political and legal scrutiny because it was quickly constructed on the location of a not often used airstrip within the Florida Everglades in June. The non permanent detention middle — which at present can home 3,000 migrants awaiting deportation — was toured by President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in early July.
“They’ve quite a lot of bodyguards and quite a lot of cops which are within the type of alligators. You do not have to pay them a lot.” Trump stated whereas touring the power. “I would not need to run by the Everglades for lengthy.”
Within the letter, spearheaded by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the lawmakers requested the Division of Homeland Safety to offer extra details about the power by Sept. 3. They requested the Trump administration to establish the authorized authority that permits Florida to run the power, verify the power meets federal requirements for the therapy of detainees, and description the standards utilized by DHS to reimburse Florida for the power.
An ambulance arrives on the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz” on the Dade-Collier Coaching and Transition Airport, August 14, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Photographs
“Brushing apart issues from human rights watchdogs, environmentalist teams, and Tribal nations, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) has greenlit the development of this expansive detention facility that will violate detained people’ human rights, jeopardize public and environmental well being, and violate federal legislation. We ask that DHS promptly present important info for the American public to raised perceive this detention plan,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers additionally requested further details about authorized entry for detainees on the facility and the environmental affect of the location — points which have been on the middle of two federal lawsuits difficult the power. A federal choose has briefly paused additional building on the website over environmental issues, and a lawsuit over authorized entry was partially dismissed after the Trump administration established a close-by immigration court docket to deal with points stemming from Alligator Alcatraz.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the letter. Division of Homeland Safety Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has beforehand stated the power complies with federal detention requirements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lauded “Alligator Alcatraz” as an environment friendly approach for Florida to work with the Trump administration to hold out deportations, and has inspired different states to do the identical.
“I do know that the administration has known as on different states to comply with go well with and increase such a capability, and I’d simply reiterate that decision. I believe it is essential. I believe it can make a distinction,” DeSantis stated at a press convention on the website in July. “The entire function is to make this be a spot that may facilitate elevated frequency and numbers of deportations of unlawful aliens.”
Since “Alligator Alcatraz” opened in July, immigration advocates have been pushing for extra details about the power, arguing that the custodial and operational particulars have been initially saved murky to stop oversight. In response to paperwork launched in an ongoing lawsuit difficult the power, the Florida Division of Emergency Administration and Florida State Guard — together with personal contractors — are working the location below a 287(g) settlement with the federal authorities.
“Whereas the aliens are within the bodily custody of the State, they’re for sure authorized functions handled as within the custody of the federal authorities,” an legal professional with the Division of Justice wrote in a court docket submitting earlier this month.
In response to H. Marissa Montes, a professor at Loyola Regulation Faculty in Los Angeles, the mannequin utilized by Alligator Alcatraz permits the federal authorities to outsource detention services to keen states and personal contractors. Whereas the federal authorities has lengthy relied on county jails and for-profit prison companies to deal with detainees, services like “Alligator Alcatraz” increase the size of particular person states’ involvement in federal immigration proceedings, Montes stated.
“On condition that DHS is working instantly with the Florida state authorities on a detention facility with alarming implications, DHS ought to guarantee transparency and accountability surrounding the power’s financing operations,” the lawmakers wrote of their letter.
With Trump vowing to hold out the largest deportation in U.S. historical past, using services like “Alligator Alcatraz” contributes to a deterrent impact that encourages self-deportation, in response to Montes, who runs Loyola’s Immigrant Justice Clinic.
“We have got an elevated quantity of people that are available in in search of to self-deport as a result of they’d somewhat self-deport in a approach that is dignified, proper, than by the hands of the federal authorities,” Montes stated.
