Deep in the fragile ecosystem of Florida’s Everglades, a hastily constructed makeshift immigration detention site was recently built—and it’s so cruel and so dangerous that it’s being called “Alligator Alcatraz.” But cruelty is, of course, the point.
We are tremendously concerned about reports of unspeakable and inhumane conditions—swarms of mosquitoes, maggot-infested food, sweltering heat, and lack of medical care or even basic hygiene like showers. Over 30 men are detained in a single cage, with only three toilets for them to share.
These horrendous conditions are government-sanctioned abuses—and they’re being funded with Floridians’ taxpayer dollars, with the expectation that ICE will pay them back using their new just-passed mega billion-dollar slush fund.
Unless we act right now, this could become a model for even more sites like it under President Trump’s $150 billion mass deportation expansion recently passed by Congress and signed into law.
Demand members of Congress in your state halt any funding of this shameful facility and immediately call for its closure!
“Alligator Alcatraz” is a grotesque extension of Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant agenda — designed not for justice, but for suffering. It is terrorizing immigrants who are our neighbors, our coworkers, and our friends — people who came to the U.S. seeking safety and dignity, but instead were unlawfully arrested and locked behind bars.
We must dismantle the mass deportation machine and invest in welcoming communities.