Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost urges shutdown of "Alligator Alcatraz," calls it "internment camp"
"We have cages that are inhumane where people are being held, 32 men to a cage and cramped four to six of them in tents," said the Orlando Democrat.
Frost spoke moments before taking another tour of Alligator Alcatraz, recalling what he witnessed during his first visit a month ago.
"It's an internment camp," Frost said. "For immigrants, for immigrants who also look like me, who are Black and brown folks. People who are Latino and Haitian and subject to inhumane conditions under the guise of law enforcement. It is a shameful thing."
"It's a place where 1,000 people live in tents under the hot Florida summer and detainees are exposed to heat, wildlife and mosquitos that carry disease," he added.
State officials have said the facility, located 45 miles west of Miami, meets all required standards and is in good working order.
Frost strongly disagreed.
"This facility is not about security. It is about entertainment. It is about optics. It is about distraction," he said.
Frost said he also came seeking information about detainees from his district.
"I came with a thick burner of names, the names of people who are constituents of mine," Frost said.
Two weeks ago, a federal judge placed a pause on the decision to expand "Alligator Alcatraz" and is expected to issue a ruling by tomorrow on the facility's future.
"We'll hear anytime today or tomorrow from the judge, hopefully reaching a decision that shuts this place down," Frost said. "This place needs to be shut down. People are not being treated fairly and people are not getting due process yet."
Frost added that he still had unfinished business from his first visit.
He said he intends to check on different units, including the one used for medical purposes, after detainees complained of delays in receiving prescriptions and a lack of adequate food.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
California voters will decide redistricting in November, escalating battle with Trump and Texas
Ratcheting up the pressure in the escalating national fight over control of Congress, the California Legislature on Thursday approved November special election to ask voters in November to redraw the state's electoral lines to favor Democrats and thwart President Trump's far-right policy agenda. The ballot measure, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and national Democratic leaders, is the latest volley in a national political brawl over electoral maps that could alter the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections and the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. If voters approve the redrawn lines on Nov. 4, Democrats in the Golden State would see the odds tilted further in their favor, while the number of California Republicans in the House could be halved. Newsom initially said that new electoral districts in California would only take effect if another state redrew its lines before 2031. But after Texas moved toward approving its own maps this week that could give the GOP five more House seats, Democrats stripped the so-called "trigger" language from the amendment — meaning that if voters approve the measure, the new lines would take effect no matter what. The ballot measure language, which asks California voters to override the power of the independent redistricting commission, was approved by most Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate, where they hold supermajorities. California lawmakers have the power to place constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot without the approval of the governor. Newsom, however, is expected later Thursday to sign two separate bills that fund the special election and spell out the lines for the new congressional districts. Democrats' rush to the ballot marks a sudden departure from California's 15-year commitment to independent redistricting, often held up as the country's gold standard. The state's voters stripped lawmakers of the power to draw lines during the Great Recession and handed that partisan power to a panel of independent citizens whose names are drawn in a lottery. The change, Democrats said, was forced by an extraordinary change in circumstances: After decades of the United States redrawing congressional lines once a decade, President Trump and his political team have leaned on Republican-led states to redraw their district lines before the 2026 midterm elections to help Republicans retain control of the House. 'His playbook is a simple one: Bully, threaten, fight, then rig the rules to hang onto power," said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. "We are here today because California will not be a bystander to that power grab. We are not intimidated, and we are acting openly, lawfully, with purpose and resolve, to defend our state and to defend our democracy.' Republicans in the state Assembly and the state Senate criticized Newsom's argument that Democrats must "fight fire with fire," saying retaliation is a slippery slope that would erode the independent redistricting process California voters have chosen twice at the ballot box. "You move forward fighting fire with fire, and what happens? You burn it all down," said Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). He said Trump was "wrong" to push Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw Texas' lines to benefit Republicans, and so was California's push to pursue the same strategy. State Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), who co-authored the bill drawing the proposed congressional districts, said Democrats had no choice but to stand up, given the harm the Trump administration has inflicted on healthcare, education, tariffs and other policies that affect Californians. 'What do we do? Just sit back and do nothing?" Gonzalez said. "Or do we fight back and provide some chance for our Californians to see themselves in this democracy?" Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) said the effort is "a corrupt redistricting scheme to rig California's elections" that violates the "letter and the spirit of the California constitution." "Democrats are rushing this through under the guise of urgency," Jones said. "There is no emergency that justifies this abuse of process.' Three Assembly Democrats did not vote in favor of the constitutional amendment. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano), who is running for Congress against Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) in the San Joaquin Valley, voted no. Progressive Caucus chair Alex Lee (D-San Jose), and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), did not vote. Democrats will face an unusual messaging challenge with the November ballot measure, said Matt Lesenyie, an assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach. The opponents of mid-decade redistricting are stressing that the measure would "disadvantage voters," he said, which is "wording that Democrats have primed Democrats on, for now two administrations, that democracy is being killed with a thousand cuts." "It's a weird, sort of up-is-down moment," Lesenyie said. How did we get here? Trump's political team began pressuring Abbott and Texas Republicans in early June to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts in the middle of the decade — which is very uncommon — to give Republicans a better shot at keeping the House in 2026. "We are entitled to five more seats," Trump later told CNBC. Some Texas Republicans feared that mid-decade redistricting could imperil their own chances of reelection. But within a month of the White House floating the idea, Abbott added the new congressional lines, which would stack the deck against as many as five Texas Democrats in Congress, to the Legislature's special session in July. By mid-July, Newsom was talking about California punching back. In an interview with the progressive news site the TN Holler, Newsom said: "These guys, they're not f—ing around. They're playing by a totally different set of rules." Democrats in Texas fled the state for nearly two weeks, including some to California, to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the new lines. Abbott signed civil arrest warrants and levied fines on the 52 absent Democrats while they held news conferences in California and Illinois to bring attention to the fight. While the Texas drama unfolded, consultants for the campaign arm of House Democrats in California quietly drew up maps that would further chop down the number of Golden State Republicans in Congress. The proposed changes would eliminate the district of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and dilute the number of GOP voters in four districts represented by Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Darrell Issa. The Democrats agreed to return to Texas last week and pointed to California's tit-for-tat effort as one measure of success, saying the Golden State could neutralize any Republican gains in Texas. Since then, other Republican-led states have begun to contemplate redistricting too, including Indiana, Florida and Missouri. Trump's political allies are publicly threatening to mount primary challenges against any Indiana Republican who opposes redrawing the lines. In California, the opposition is shaping up as quickly as the ballot measure. California voters received the first campaign mailer opposing the ballot measure a day before the Legislature voted to approve it. A four-page glossy flier, funded by conservative donor and redistricting champion Charlie Munger Jr., warned voters that mid-decade redistricting is "weakening our Democratic process" and "a threat to California's landmark election reform." Republicans have also gone to court to try and stop the measure, alleging in an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court that Democrats violated the state Constitution by ramming the bills through without following proper legislative procedure. The high court Wednesday rejected the petition. A wave of legal challenges are expected, not only in California but in any state that reconfigures congressional districts in the expanding partisan brawl. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) said Thursday morning that a lawsuit challenging the California ballot measure would be filed in state court by Friday evening. He said Republicans also plan to litigate the title of the ballot measure and any voter guide materials that accompany it. And, he said, if voters approve the new lines, "I believe we will have ample opportunity to set the maps aside in federal court." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump touts perceived wins while praising ‘healthy, attractive people' on DC federal patrol photo op
President Donald Trump has touted his perceived wins while praising 'healthy, attractive people' during a photo op to kick off his patrol with D.C. police and federal forces amid his crime crackdown. Trump met with local and federal law enforcement at the U.S. Park Police facility in Anacostia Thursday evening, complimenting the roughly 300 men and women in the crowd as 'healthy' and 'attractive.' The president also praised his own administration, telling the crowd, ' We've done a lot of good work, including the biggest tax cuts that you've ever had. ' This is a developing story...
The Hill
25 minutes ago
- The Hill
Doggett won't seek reelection if new Texas maps pass legal muster
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said Thursday that if the courts approve the Republican congressional maps in Texas, he will not seek reelection in the redrawn 37th Congressional District. 'If the courts give Trump a victory in his scheme to maintain control of a compliant House, I will not seek reelection in the reconfigured CD37, even though it contains over [two-thirds] of my current constituents,' Doggett said in a statement. The proposed map, which gives Texas Republicans five congressional seats, draws Doggett and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) into the same Austin-area district. A matchup would have pitted the 78-year-old Doggett, who was the first House Democrat to call on former President Biden to drop his presidential bid last year, against the 36-year-old Casar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Doggett had previously been pushing Casar to run in the redrawn 35th congressional district The move was perceived by some Texas Democrats as Doggett waving the white flag in the redistricting battle before the new map was officially passed by the state Legislature. 'I had hoped that my commitment to reelection under any circumstances would encourage Congressman Casar to not surrender his winnable district to Trump,' Doggett said in his statement on Thursday. 2024 Election Coverage 'While his apparent decision is most unfortunate, I prefer to devote the coming months to fighting Trump tyranny and serving Austin rather than waging a struggle with fellow Democrats. If Trump extreme gerrymandering prevails, I wish Congressman Casar the best,' he continued. Casar currently represents the state's 35th Congressional District, which includes parts of the San Antonio metro area, as well as parts of Austin. Doggett represents the 37th District, which includes the majority of the city of Austin and some of its suburbs. Under the proposed new maps, the 37th Congressional District would become more Democratic, while the new 35th District would become more conservative and include less than 10 percent of Casar's current constituents. The new 37th District would include roughly two-thirds of Doggett's constituents, while the rest would come from Casar's Austin-area constituency, including the City Council seat he held from 2015-22.
