The Florida holding center for illegal aliens has come under fire from detainees who have spoken out about the facilities' poor conditions, Newsweek reported.
The newly renovated detention center for illegal migrants has been nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" due to its isolated location within the Florida Everglades. Attorneys and relatives of those held in the 17,000-acre Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport detailed the physical and mental anguish endured by those in facility.
Attorney Phillip Arroyo said his client was denied medical care after falling ill, despite being a longtime U.S. resident and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient.
Kimberly Gibson, the mother of Shaunti Gibson, whose friend Braydon Cash-Brow is also being housed there, said Cash-Brown was held for hours without food or water only to become sick when he drank tainted water.
"When he was taken inside, he said the toilets weren't flushing, it was hot, and the lights were flickering off and on because the generators weren't working properly. He was then given a half cup of water. That's it," Gibson told the outlet.
Others have spoken of rancid food infested with insects, overflowing toilets, and verbal intimidation from guards.
To mitigate the mass influx of prisoners, the Pentagon said roughly 70 Florida National Guard troops were conducting base security at the detention center. Democrats have cried foul on both the use the National Guard and the holding center based in the unforgiving environment of the Everglades.
Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigration Coalition slammed the administration's maneuver to use Guard members.
"National Guard members are being deputized to serve as immigration judges in this Everglades detention camp," Kennedy posted on X. "This is intended to strip due process from those detained there."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.