Latest news with #detention
Washington Post
38 minutes ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Deportation flights out of ‘Alligator Alcatraz' have begun
The first deportation flights out of a temporary detention center in the Florida Everglades began this week, with hundreds of people departing the state — including some who were eventually sent out of the country, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday. About 100 people previously detained at the Florida center 'have fully been deported,' DeSantis said, without specifying where they were sent. The Department of Homeland Security is organizing the departures, he said, adding that two or three 'removal flights' have left Florida so far with plans to continue them. Some of the flights went to a federal immigration site in Louisiana first then 'to another place,' DeSantis said. 'There's an aggressive … deportation schedule,' DeSantis said. 'That's what you're seeing is starting to occur here down at Alligator Alcatraz.' Garrett Ripa, the Miami field director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said those flown out of the country were 'illegally present in the state of Florida.' The officials spoke from the Florida detention center, with the protected Everglades wetlands as a backdrop. DeSantis defended the hastily built facility from criticism that it is unsafe for detainees and will harm the environment. The detention camp is in the Big Cypress National Preserve and next to Everglades National Park. DeSantis said the facility can hold 2,000 people but can be expanded 'as needed.' An estimated 750 to 900 detainees are being held there now. The detention center was constructed near an infrequently used airstrip that has been at the site for 50 years. DeSantis said its location is 'sensible' and allows for detainees to quickly be loaded onto deportation flights. 'You don't have to drive them an hour to an airport. You go a couple thousand feet, and they can be on a plane and out of here,' he said. 'So I'm pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS, have begun. The cadence is increasing. We've already had a number of flights in the last few days.' The American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant advocates, along with four detainees, filed a lawsuit this month claiming harsh and unsafe conditions at the facility. Environmentalists have also sued. Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at the news conference that claims by detainees, their families and attorneys that medical treatment is lacking at the facility 'are false.' 'We have that medication on-site. We have a medical doctor on-site; we have nurse practitioners on-site; we have [registered nurses] and a complete medical staff,' he said. 'We can deal with trauma on-site. We have four paramedics on duty at all times in conjunction with the medical staff.'
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Deportation Flights Begin From Florida's ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
By and Fabiola Zerpa Save The US has begun deporting detainees from the makeshift immigration detention center in Florida dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Governor Ron DeSantis said. About 100 people were deported directly from the facility, while several hundred detainees have been transferred to other immigrant detention centers, DeSantis said. The facility, built at an abandoned airfield in the Everglades, has been touted by President Donald Trump as crucial to his plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
CBS News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Deportations start at Alligator Alcatraz as Florida officials vow to "surge" immigration arrests
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced deportation flights had begun to take off from the so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility that his administration set up in the Everglades, saying "hundreds" of detainees held at the site had been processed for deportation. DeSantis, a Republican who has sought to vocally highlight his state's efforts to aid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, said several hundred individuals in line for deportation for alleged immigration offenses had been relocated from the Alligator Alcatraz site to other states or straight to their home countries. "The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens," DeSantis said during a press conference at Alligator Alcatraz, noting the site has a runway that can accommodate deportation planes. Florida state officials have overseen the construction of the Everglades facility and the detention of individuals there under a cooperation agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the deportation process is still overseen by federal officials. During the same event Friday, Garrett Ripa, a top ICE official in Florida, confirmed "two or three" deportation flights had taken off from Alligator Alcatraz. DeSantis said the cadence of flights would increase, citing the tens of billions of dollars Congress recently gave the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and Florida's expanding efforts to leverage state resources and manpower to help federal officials identify, arrest and detain immigrants living illegally in the Sunshine State. The governor predicted the Justice Department would "very soon" approve a plan for Florida National Guard lawyers, known as judge advocates, to gain the powers of federal immigration judges and adjudicate the cases of those detained at Alligator Alcatraz. Standing next to DeSantis, Larry Keefe, the executive director of Florida's Board of Immigration Enforcement, warned those in the U.S. illegally that there would be a "surge" in immigration arrests in the state, saying local law enforcement officials have roughly doubled their capacity to arrest immigrants suspected of violating federal immigration laws. Keefe said 1,800 Florida troopers deputized as federal immigration agents had been conducting arrests throughout the state. But he added that in the past few days, the Trump administration has issued "credentials" to an additional 1,200 sheriff's deputies and 650 state agents to bolster Florida's efforts to assist the federal government's mass deportation campaign. Under arrangements with ICE known as 287(g) agreements, local and state officials can enforce federal immigration laws to varying degrees that can include the arresting and detaining those in the U.S. unlawfully. Florida law requires state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said Alligator Alcatraz can currently accommodate 2,000 detainees, but that the state is working to expand capacity at the facility to be able to hold 4,000 individuals there. Guthrie defended conditions at the tent facility, and said state officials were prepared for any storm-related issues during hurricane season. Detainees held at Alligator Alcatraz have reported poor and unsanitary conditions, including food with maggots, not being able to shower regularly and not having access to lawyers, CBS News Miami has reported. Asked about the hurricane concerns, DeSantis said there's no place in Florida "totally immune" from storms, adding that contingency plans were in place. "This ain't our first rodeo," he said.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
One day inside the deportation machine at a federal immigration court in New York
A brother is torn from his sister. A father arrives for his immigration hearing with his family, only to find that they will be leaving without him. A woman, seemingly relieved after emerging from her hearing, finds that her life is about to change when she is apprehended by federal officials waiting just outside the door. These are just some of the moments that happened on a single day in the Jacob K Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, the largest federal immigration courthouse in Manhattan. Courthouse detentions have been one of many flashpoints in the Trump administration's expanding crackdown on immigration, as federal authorities seek to arrest 3,000 people a day. There have been reports of arrests at courthouses across the country, from Phoenix to Los Angeles to Chicago, turning routine hearings into scenes fraught with anxiety and fear. A recently filed class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration seeks to bar the practice of courthouse arrests. Immigration court presents an especially precarious situation. Not showing up for a hearing can have serious consequences, but as the Guardian observed in the hallways outside courtrooms in New York, showing up also has serious consequences. Even though some people had been granted follow-up hearings, they were detained by federal officials in the hallway and rushed to a stairwell for holding elsewhere in the building. On 18 June, representatives Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman attempted to conduct oversight on the building's 10th floor, where people have been held, sometimes for days at a time, but were rebuffed by federal officials. Recently released footage shows the harsh conditions faced by people held on the 10th floor. What follows is a visual timeline of a single day inside the halls of the Jacob K Javits federal building, where some people found their lives forever changed. 8.57am – A family walks towards a courtroom past masked federal agents. Only the father has a hearing, and his family would not be allowed to enter the room with him. They would have to wait elsewhere. 9.51am – A federal agent checks a stack of documents containing identifying information for people slated for detention. 10.11am – Federal agents load a detained man into an elevator. 10.17am – Federal agents wait. 10.30am – Federal agents lead a detained man to a stairwell. 11.25am – The New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, left, escorts a man to the elevator after his hearing. Lander has made regular appearances at the federal building to observe cases and help people leave the building. He was arrested on 17 June as he was attempting to help escort someone out. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Lander 'was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer', though video evidence of the encounter debunks that allegation. He was subsequently released the same day. 11.45am – After successfully escorting a man to the elevator, Lander then returns to a courtroom to observe another case. At 11.45am, he stands in the doorway and announces to federal agents that a man named Carlos has been granted a follow-up hearing in 2029. He asks the assembled agents if they would allow him to return for that hearing. No one says anything in response. 11.46am – Chaos breaks out as multiple federal agents grab Carlos while his sister screams. 11.55am – Court employees had informed a sketch artist that she wouldn't be allowed inside the courtrooms at the federal building, despite the fact that such artists are generally permitted in courtrooms where cameras are banned, as in high-profile federal trials. The sketch artist resorts to drawing the scene in the hallway. She would subsequently be allowed into the courtroom. 12.58pm – A half-eaten snack bar sticks out of a tactical vest. 1.51pm – After emerging from a hearing, a woman is immediately apprehended by a masked federal agent who asks for her name and to look at her documents. Upon reviewing her documents, the agent tells her she can leave. 'Have a nice day,' he says in Spanish. 2.11pm – Federal agents detain the father from the family observed at 8.57am and lead him to a stairwell. The Guardian later observed a photojournalist telling the man's family in Spanish that he had been arrested. Their oldest child broke down in tears as the other two slept, after waiting for him for hours after their arrival. The mother said he had no criminal history and that their asylum cases were in progress. 2.58pm – The last woman to emerge from her hearing holds a stack of documents in her hand, and she smiles briefly before a masked agent whose T-shirt reads 'police' apprehends her. Her smile fades to an expression of fear as she learns that she will not be allowed to leave. Federal agents then rush her to a stairwell.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Deportation flights from Florida's ‘Alligator Alcatraz' detention center have begun, DeSantis says
Rana Mourer waves an American flag outside of the migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025 in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez) OCHOPEE, Fla. — Deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as ' Alligator Alcatraz ″ began in the past few days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday. The flights operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have transferred about 100 detainees from the immigration detention centre to other countries, said DeSantis, who expects that number to increase soon. 'I think you're going to see the numbers go up dramatically,' DeSantis said during a news conference near the South Florida detention centre. Officials said that two or three flights have departed from the site so far, but they didn't say where those flights headed. Critics have condemned the facility as cruel and inhumane. DeSantis and other Republican officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Building the facility in the Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents, DeSantis and other officials have said. The White House has delighted in the area's remoteness — about 50 miles (80 kilometres) west of Miami — and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators. It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed. The centre was built in eight days over 10 square miles (26 square kilometres) of the Everglades. It features more than 200 security cameras, more than five miles (eight kilometres) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. It currently holds about 2,000 people, with the potential to double the capacity, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday. The Associated Press
