Alligator Alcatraz receives first immigrant detainees

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DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

President Donald Trump tours a newly-constructed area for a detention camp with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, foreground, at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Fla., on July 1. The airport is the planned site of a detention camp for migrants that officials in his administration have called “Alligator Alcatraz.”

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JONAH HINEBAUGH-NAPLES DAILY NEWS

A Dakota Osceola chants into a megaphone, on July 1, while walking protesters to the entrance of the immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, in Ochopee, Fla.

MIAMI >> The first detainees arrived at Alligator Alcatraz late Wednesday night, even as the immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades has already faced some operational issues with security and water intrusion.

On Wednesday evening, the gates of the facility were bustling with traffic. Three white vans escorted by sedans drove into the compound. The vans looked like those previously used by immigration authorities to transport migrants, although it’s unclear who was in them.

Construction workers, fencing companies and locksmiths went in and out of the facility ahead of detainees coming in. Food trucks serving churros, street corn and empanadas flitted in and out of the facility. The activity signaled active preparations for a site that a day earlier was showcased by President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis as an operational location.

The site’s name also became official Wednesday, when two workers slapped a large blue guidepost that said “Alligator Alcatraz” over the old “Dade-Collier Transitional Airport” road sign that led people to the airstrip for years.

Earlier Wednesday, the Miami Herald reviewed a video that showed a person using what appears to be a credit card jimmying open a door that leads into one of the chain-linked cells where immigrant detainees are expected to sleep. Neither the state nor the contractor, GardaWorld, would discuss the issue when asked to comment.

On Tuesday, when the facility opened, videos showed water seeping under the heavy-duty tents that make up the detention center. Overnight, state contractors “went back and tightened any seams at the base of the structures,” according to the state Division of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the construction of the site.

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The security issue in the dormitory — paired with the flooding — has raised questions about the preparedness of a facility that state and federal officials have said is a state-of-the-art detention center that meets rigorous standards.

“I honestly can’t say if the facility is ready to take people in,” one contractor, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely, told the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday after learning that detainees would start arriving at the facility later in the night. Earlier in the day, the contractor was “a little nervous” about some operational issues at the site.

But Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whom Trump on Tuesday credited with picking the location, boasted on social media that Alligator Alcatraz is ready to check in “hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight.”

“Next stop: back to where they came from,” Uthmeier said.

A 35-page report obtained by the Herald/Times outlining the state’s “initial draft of minimum requirements” for the site shows the level of planning that went into building the facility in an eight-day span. The undated records point to myriad state and federal regulations the facility had to meet before it could open and suggest that there is a possibility children could be among the detainees who could be sent to the facility.

When transporting detainees, for example, the guidelines say “minors shall be separated from unrelated adults at all times during transport and seated in an area near officers and under close supervision.” The records also say “snacks and water shall be given to minors, pregnant females, and as necessary for detainees with medical conditions,” while being transported “by land.”

The Florida Division of Emergency Management did not respond when asked by the Herald if the state is planning to house children in Alligator Alcatraz. Instead, the state agency issued a statement that said “the timing of detainee arrivals at the detention facility will be determined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

“Florida stands ready to support federal operations as needed, and the state has ensured the facility is prepared to receive individuals once DHS and ICE finalize transportation logistics and scheduling,” a spokesperson for the state agency wrote in an email Wednesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the detainees were being transferred from local detention facilities that house immigrants in Miami.

Lawyers and experts, including a former Department of Homeland Security employee, interviewed by the Herald/TImes on Wednesday, cited the federal gutting of oversight agencies, a documented history of inadequate immigration detention conditions, the speed of the construction, and the Everglades’ harsh environment as challenges for the facility’s operations.

“It’s hard to imagine how these facilities would meet basic standards or how we will know whether they are,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council.

The flooding that was seen on Tuesday has also raised new concerns about the impact weather can have on a detention facility that is composed of heavy-duty tents.

In a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis praised the “really strong management plan” in place for the facility and specifically complemented the severe weather strategy.

“Some people ask, well, what if there’s a hurricane? You think they didn’t think of that? Of course they do. Any time you would do anything in Florida you’d have to think about what would be resistant,” he said.

“Of course they have plans and contingencies for all of that.”

A review of the documents obtained by the Herald/Times included no specific details for what would occur in a disaster, including a hurricane. It’s unclear whether a separate document outlining storm management exists. State Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said a hurricane plan exists for Alligator Alcatraz. The state did not provide a copy of that plan when asked for it on Wednesday.

Critics worry that the tents — whether air-conditioned or not — are not sufficient protection for detainees from the natural risks in the Everglades.

“Building a bare-bones tented detention center on hot tarmac in the middle of the Everglades and exposing imprisoned immigrants to the elements is a cruel and absurd proposal,” said Melissa Abdo, Sun Coast Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association Sun Coast Regional Director, in a statement.

“The Everglades’ intense heat, humidity, and storms can be hazardous without proper precautions,” she wrote. “This facility’s remote, harsh nature could leave people in very real danger, especially as Florida’s heat index skyrockets and hurricane season escalates.”

Miami Herald staff writers Churchill Ndonwie, Siena Duncan and Amy Reyes, and Tampa Bay Times reporter Romy Ellenbogen contributed to this report.

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