Is your family member or client at Alligator Alcatraz? We obtained a list
The DeSantis administration has not made public a list of names of the immigrants held at the facility in heavy duty tents at an airstrip in the Florida Everglades. Individuals sent to the makeshift detention center do not show up in an online government database that allows the public to search for immigrant detainees' whereabouts. Lawyers say they have had difficulty locating clients sent to the site, often learning that they are there when detainees call family members.
The list — made public for the first time here — was shared with the Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the site. Neither disputed its accuracy.
READ MORE: Hundreds at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal charges or convictions, records show
The list is not exhaustive and it is subject to change as the detention facility's population fluctuates. The Herald/Times searched each of the 747 names in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Detainee Locator. Only 40 appeared on the public-facing website, most of them listed as being located at nearby facilities, and three marked with a note to 'call field office.'
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the site's operations, has not said how many people are held at the facility. Democratic lawmakers who toured the site on Saturday said detention center employees told them that there are about 750 detainees at the site.
Miami Herald reporters Siena Duncan, Milena Malaver, Churchill Ndonwie and Jay Weaver, and el Nuevo Herald reporter Antonio Maria Delgado contributed to this report.
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