Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz' after being blocked
The tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups to view the facility.
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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Democrat and Republican lawmakers at odds after state-arranged tour of ‘Alligator Alcatraz' detention centre
Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida's new Everglades immigration detention centre after visiting Saturday, describing it as crowded, unsanitary and bug-infested. Republicans on the same tour said they saw nothing of the sort at the remote facility that officials have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The state-arranged tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention centre that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups. 'There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down,' U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, told reporters after visiting the agglomeration of tents, trailers and temporary buildings. 'This place is a stunt, and they're abusing human beings here.' U.S. detainees describe worm-filled food, inhuman treatment at 'Alligator Alcatraz' migrant centre Cage-style units of 32 men share three combination toilet-sink devices, the visitors measured the temperature at 28°C in a housing area entranceway and 29°C in a medical intake area, and grasshoppers and other insects abound, she and her fellow Florida Democrats said. Although the visitors said they were not able to speak with the detainees, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, also a Democrat, said one called out 'I'm an American citizen!' and others chanted 'Libertad!,' Spanish for 'freedom.' State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Florida, countered that he had seen a well-run, safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well. 'The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,' said Ingoglia, who said he toured in the same group as Wasserman Schultz. Ingoglia said a handful of detainees became 'a little raucous' when the visitors appeared, but he did not make out what they were saying. State Sen. Jay Collins was in another group and said he also found the detention centre to be clean and functioning well: 'No squalor.' Collins, a Republican, said he saw backup generators, a tracking system for dietary restrictions and military-style bunks with good mattresses. The sanitation devices struck him as appropriate, if basic. 'Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not, but this is a transitional holding facility,' Collins said by phone. Journalists were not allowed on the tour, and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside. U.S. Supreme Court keeps block on Florida immigration law Trump tours Florida immigration lockup, jokes about escapees having to run from alligators Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which built the facility, and to representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia's upbeat readouts on social media. Across the state in Tampa, federal Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that of the Everglades detention centre that 'any issues that were there have been addressed.' She added that she has talked with five unnamed Republican governors about modelling other facilities on it. DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention centre, constructed in days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump's call for mass deportations. The first detainees arrived July 3, after Trump toured and praised the facility. Described as temporary, it is meant to help the Republican president's administration reach its goal of boosting migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000. The Florida facility's remote location and its name – a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California – are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration. Ahead of the facility's opening, state officials said detainees would have access to medical care, consistent air conditioning, a recreation yard, attorneys and clergy members. But detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks, and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat. One man told his wife that detainees go days without getting showers. Judge orders Trump administration to curtail immigration arrests in California Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions 'completely false,' saying detainees always get three meals a day, unlimited drinking water, showers and other necessities. 'The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,' she said. Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site July 3 but said they were denied access. The state subsequently arranged Saturday's tour. The lawmakers have sued over the earlier denial, accusing the DeSantis administration of impeding their oversight authority. A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit 'dumb.'
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
California farmworker who fell from greenhouse roof during chaotic ICE raid dies
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic ICE raid this week at a California cannabis facility died Saturday of his injuries. Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die in one of the Trump administration's anti-immigration operations. Yesenia Duran, Alanis' niece, confirmed his death to The Associated Press. Duran has posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family's only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to a wife and daughter in Mexico. The United Food Workers said Alanis worked at the farm for 10 years. 'These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,' the union said recently in a statement on the social platform X. The UFW reported Alanis' death prematurely late Friday, but the Ventura County Medical Center later issued a statement authorized by the family saying he was still on life support. The Department of Homeland Security said it executed criminal search warrants Thursday at Glass House Farms facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria. Garcia called family to say he was hiding and possibly was fleeing agents before he fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources. Agents arrested some 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, DHS said in a statement. Alanis was not among them, the agency said. 'This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody,' DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 'Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.' Four U.S. citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly 'assaulting or resisting officers,' according to DHS, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. During the raid crowds of people gathered outside the facility in Camarillo to seek information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. Authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators, and people ultimately retreated amid acrid green and white billowing smoke. Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation. The farm also grows tomatoes and cucumbers. 'Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,' it said. The business is owned by Graham Farrar, a generous donor to California Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of Republican President Donald Trump.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Justice Dept. fires more prosecutors, support staff involved in Trump prosecutions, AP sources say
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired additional lawyers and support staff who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutions of President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter. The overall number of terminations was not immediately clear but they cut across both the classified documents and election interference prosecutions brought by Smith, and included a handful of prosecutors who were detailed to the probe as well as Justice Department support staff and other non-lawyer personnel who aided them, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves that have not been publicly announced. The firings are part of a broader wave of terminations that have roiled the department for months and that have targeted staff who worked on cases involving Trump and his supporters. In January, the Justice Department said that it had fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on prosecutions of Trump, and last month fired at least three prosecutors involved in U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases, Smith's team in 2023 brought separate indictments accusing Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as well as conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Neither case reached trial. The Supreme Court significantly narrowed the election interference case in a ruling that said former presidents were immune from prosecution for official acts, and a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the classified documents case by holding that Smith's appointment as special counsel was illegal. Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from federal prosecution.
