Dem
47
GOP
53
With all the attention to deportations, Florida AG James Uthmeier (R) decided to get into the act and ordered a hastily constructed prison on an abandoned airport runway in the Big Cypress National Preserve, 6 miles from the Everglades and 50 miles west of Miami. While not an island, it is surrounded by an alligator- and python-infested swamp. It has been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." It consists of zoo cages under tents. Each cage holds 16 double bunk beds. Here is a photo of Donald Trump inspecting it:
Reports from detainees describe horrible conditions. There is one meal a day and the food has worms in it (and it must be eaten in 2 minutes). Toilets don't flush so the floor is covered with fecal matter. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. Inmates are denied showers and medical care (including prescription medicines). Phone calls are monitored and limited. The temperature is in the mid 80s. When you build things in a hurry in the middle of a swamp, you don't worry too much about building codes and laws. Inmates say they are under immense pressure to sign documents saying they want to self-deport. Many detainees have no criminal record. They also say that they have had no due process and their constitutional rights are constantly violated. Authorities deny all these charges but refuse to let journalists and photographers in to see for themselves. One immigration attorney, Atara Eig, said the conditions there make other detention facilities seem advanced.
Members of Congress from Florida demanded to inspect the facility and were turned down. They sued. Then officials backed down and allowed a group in on Saturday. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told reporters after her visit: "There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down. This place is a stunt, and they're abusing human beings here." She noted that grasshoppers and other insects (a)bounded. However, State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R) said the facility was well run and safe and the air conditioning worked. It is not possible that Schultz and Ingoglia are both telling the truth.
When Trump visited it, he touted it for its harshness. For him, that is not a bug due to the hasty construction, but a feature intended to get immigrants to self-deport rather than being imprisoned there. He even said it was a national model for getting immigrants to self-deport. In a way, it is a follow-up on a PR stunt from Trump v1.0, when parents were separated from their children and the children were locked in cages. The idea there, too, was to discourage new migrants from coming and encourage migrants already in the country to leave voluntarily. (V)