Latest news with #immigrantDetention
CBS News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump administration efforts to distance themselves from Alligator Alcatraz get pushback
As they urge a U.S. district judge to halt an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, environmental groups are pushing back against Trump administration arguments seeking to distance the federal government from responsibility for the project. The state last week began operating what has been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" at a remote site surrounded by the Everglades and the Big Cypress National Preserve, as Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials try to help President Donald Trump's mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. Lawsuit claims opening of Alligator Alcatraz violated the law Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit last month seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to put the project on hold until legal wrangling is resolved. The environmental groups contend in the lawsuit that the facility should be halted because it threatens environmentally sensitive areas and species in the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve. The state decided to build the facility at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a remote site used for flight training. In part, the lawsuit alleges federal and state agencies have violated the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires evaluating potential environmental impacts before such a project can move forward. State and federal attorneys contend that the environmental groups have not shown the project would cause "irreparable" harm to the surrounding areas. Also, they have cited the broader effort by the Trump administration and state Republican leaders to crack down on illegal immigration. Trump administration pushes back Trump administration lawyers also argued last week that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security "has not implemented, authorized, directed or funded" the Florida facility, so the pre-development impact analysis was not required. But attorneys for the environmental groups, in a document filed Thursday, said the federal government "cannot shirk" legal requirements "by passing the buck to the state; the state is bound as a partner. They should all be enjoined as a result of their undisputed failure to comply with" the law. "Defendants ignore the obvious: In performing exclusively federal functions on immigration enforcement, the state must necessarily be acting under federal control and authority at every step to build, maintain, and operate the detention center, because the state otherwise lacks the power to detain and deport individuals under federal immigration law. This project is necessarily a major federal action ... as the state cannot act in this field without federal approval or control," the groups' lawyers wrote. Critics say detention site will harm the sensitive environment The groups also disputed state and federal officials' contention that the detention center would have a minimal impact on the environment and protected species, including Florida panthers and bonneted bats, in the area. The need for an injunction "has only grown more urgent" since the lawsuit was filed on June 27, said Thursday's document, which included before-and-after photos of the site. "While the state continues to downplay the impacts of the detention center (and describe it as 'temporary'), the evidence proves otherwise: Previously unimproved sections of the site have been filled and paved; roads have been added and expanded; and the night sky over Big Cypress now glows like Yankee Stadium, visible from 15 miles away," the environmental groups' lawyers wrote. "Environmental impacts" from the detention project "will be devastating," they argued. "Defendants cannot hide from this fact - or from the public - under cover of darkness and avoid their responsibilities under federal law. An injunction should be entered to prevent further damage and maintain the status quo while this action is pending," the document said. The facility is intended to house, process and deport migrants, with National Guard troops and private contractors providing security. It has the capacity to house up to 3,000 detainees. The lawsuit is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez. State spending millions, but who will pay for it in the end? As controversy about the detention center sparked international headlines, DeSantis, Trump and other high-ranking GOP officials embraced the attention. Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, along with other state and federal officials, to tour the facility last week. The Republican Party of Florida and a political committee linked to Uthmeier are selling "Alligator Alcatraz" merchandise. Speaking at an event Monday in Jacksonville, DeSantis said the federal government would reimburse the state for the costs of the facility, estimated at roughly $450 million in its first year of operation. "When you spend money for this, you save money (related to undocumented immigrants), because you take (away) stress of hospitals, schools, criminal justice," the governor said. "We're fronting it, but we're getting reimbursed in it." Detainees include "really bad dudes," according to DeSantis. "The reality is some of the people DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is sending there, they have committed a lot of criminal misconduct," he added. "We need to make sure that they're removed from the country." The state is spending millions of dollars on contracts with private companies to provide health services, food, security and other services at the facility. Among the vendors is GardaWorld Federal Services, an international security company that has contracts for immigration detention services with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. GardaWorld recently posted advertisements saying it was hiring security guards in Ochopee, Fla., - the location of Alligator Alcatraz - who would be paid $25 per hour and be expected to work 60 hours per week. "All personnel will be required to live on-site, and meals and housing will be provided. Flights provided!***" the ad said. Applicants for the job "must legally own and possess a registered approved 9mm semiautomatic pistol, .40 caliber handgun OR .45 ACP handgun" and have a minimum of one year experience in "armed security, law enforcement, or military, with a strong preference for experience in a custodial setting." The state also plans to open a detention center for undocumented immigrants at North Florida's Camp Blanding, which is used as a training site for the Florida National Guard. The Camp Blanding facility is expected to house 1,000 detainees, according to a "State Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan" provided by DeSantis' office.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At least 11 people have died in ICE detention under Trump, as administration on pace for deadliest year in decades
Donald Trump's administration is on pace to have one of the worst years for deaths in immigrant detention in decades following the recent deaths of a Canadian citizen and a Cuban man in federal custody. A 75-year-old Cuban man died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, CBS News reports, citing a notice sent to Congress of the alleged death. The agency has not publicly disclosed the death yet, though it often announces such fatalities at a delay. His death would bring the total to at least 12 dead in ICE custody since Trump took office. At least two of those deaths were suicides. Critics accuse the administration of allowing conditions to worsen in a sprawling network of overburdened immigration detention centers as the White House pushes to deport millions of migrants in rapid time. 'It is worth noting that the Biden administration had a higher death rate (deaths per detainee count) through January - June 2024 than the current rate during January -June 2025,' Darren Eisenhauer, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in response to questions from The Independent. The Independent has contacted the Cuban foreign ministry for comment. All told, 15 people have reportedly died in detention this fiscal year, which includes the final months of Joe Biden's administration. At worst, there were 12 deaths in a single calendar year under the previous three administrations. At the current pace, as many as 24 people could be dead by the end of this calendar year, a staggering figure, though deaths climbed even higher under George W. Bush, reaching 28 in fiscal year 2004. Critics say ICE, in an effort to arrest some 3,000 people a day, is straining the nation's capacity to safely house immigrants slated for removal. More than 56,397 migrants were in immigration detention as of mid-June, or about 140 percent of the agency's ostensible capacity to hold them. 'These are the worst conditions I have seen in my 20-year career,' Paul Chavez, litigation and advocacy director at Americans for Immigrant Justice in Florida, recently told The New York Times. 'Conditions were never great, but this is horrendous.' The most recent deaths include Johnny Noviello, 49, of Canada, who was found unresponsive in a Miami detention center on June 23, and Jesus Molina-Veya, 45, who died on June 7 in ICE custody in Atlanta. The cause of Molina-Veya's death is under investigation. Authorities have noted the 45-year-old Mexican national was found unconscious with with a ligature around his neck. The Canadian government has demanded answers in Noviello's death. "Canadian consular officials are urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials,' Anita Anand, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, wrote on X. Immigration and border enforcement already make up two-thirds of federal law enforcement spending, and the Trump administration's so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' spending package could direct another $168 billion towards immigration and border law enforcement over the next five years, an unprecedented increase.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz' Is Already Flooding
The monstrous, recently constructed immigrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades, flippantly dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' literally took on water within a day of President Trump visiting the camp Tuesday to commemorate its planned Wednesday opening. Florida officials have assured the public that the facility, which will cost an estimated $450 million per year to operate, was built to withstand a Category 2 hurricane (though the Naples Daily News notes that winds of recent hurricanes in the area have significantly exceeded Category 2 levels). A report by the Miami Herald further casts into doubt official claims about the facility's durability. According to the Herald, 'a garden-variety South Florida summer rainstorm' on Tuesday afternoon—of about an inch-and-a-half of rain—caused flooding in the facility. The Herald reports: 'Rainfall seeped through the edges of the facility as the roofs and walls trembled. Drips leaked from above a door frame. The water spread under poles hoisting the Florida and U.S. flags.' On Wednesday, the Florida Division of Emergency Management told the Herald that contractors, overnight, 'went back and tightened any seams at the base of the structures that allowed water intrusion during the heavy storm,' claiming flooding had been 'minimal.' The news validates growing concerns about the condition of the facility, which was jury-rigged on a site known to be prone to flooding. On Wednesday, two dozen House Democrats, led by Representatives Janelle Bynum of Oregon and Maxwell Frost of Florida, railed against the 'makeshift unsafe, unsanitary, overly crowded, and environmentally destructive' facility in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons. 'Detainees will be kept in tents with inadequate sanitation facilities and will face unbearable living conditions, including exposure to deadly pathogens, constant threats from unpredictable flooding and extreme weather events, and daily temperatures averaging 90 degrees, with a heat index often over 100 degrees Fahrenheit,' the lawmakers wrote. The site, the letter continues, is 'known as being one of the most dangerous and inhospitable environments in the United States. This remote swamp is notorious for oppressive heat, relentless humidity, severe storms, and perilous terrain infested with venomous snakes, disease-carrying insects, and large predatory wildlife, including alligators and crocodiles.' The Trump administration and MAGA more broadly, meanwhile, have relished the cruelty of the facility—which journalist Andrea Prizer, who authored a book on the history of concentration camps, deemed a concentration camp. For example, Trump on Tuesday joked to reporters that detainees will have to be taught to run in a zigzag in order to evade alligators. The assessment from House Democrats, borne out by reports that the facility apparently had trouble withstanding a commonplace rain shower, continues: 'The deliberate placement of vulnerable immigrants into such a hostile and lethal environment is morally reprehensible, inherently cruel, and starkly violates basic humanitarian standards.'
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida Everglades
Donald Trump is travelling to Florida to visit his new immigrant detention centre, whichh has been dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz'. Located around 45 miles west of Miami at an isolated airfield in the Everglades national park, the facility takes its nickname for the alligator and cobra-infested swamp that surrounds it. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Mr Trump joked that inmates will be taught 'how to run away from an alligator' in case they escape. 'Don't run in a straight line. Run like this,' he said, performing a zig-zag motion with his hands. 'And you know what, your chances [of survival] go up about one per cent.' The project is the brainchild of James Uthmeier, the Florida Attorney General, and Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor, who deployed emergency powers to erect the compound, made up of heavy-duty tents and trailers, within a matter of days. When it is fully up and running, the remote facility is expected to house up to 5,000 people and cost an estimated $450 million (£328 million) annually. The new site has drawn criticism from Democrats, environmentalists and tribal leaders alike, who have warned of inhumane conditions and threats to the region's wildlife.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Two more Ice deaths put US on track for one of deadliest years in immigration detention
The Trump administration is on track to oversee one of the deadliest years for immigrant detention as of late after the recent deaths of two men – one from Cuba and another from Canada – while in federal custody. A 75-year-old Cuban man died last week while being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), CBS News reported, citing a notification sent to Congress. This would mark the 13th death in its facilities during the 2025 fiscal year, which began in October. At least two of those have been classified as suicides. In comparison, Ice reported 12 deaths in the fiscal year 2024. Advocates and immigration attorneys say deteriorating conditions inside an already strained detention system are contributing to the rise in deaths, which has unfolded as the administration aggressively ramps up efforts to deport millions of migrants. Under the past three administrations, the worst year saw 12 deaths in Ice custody. If the current pace continues, the total for 2025 could double those numbers. Critics say the system is collapsing under the pressure of Ice's target of detaining about 3,000 people each day. As of mid-June, more than 56,000 migrants were being held – that is 140% of the agency's stated capacity. 'These are the worst conditions I have seen in my 20-year career,' Paul Chavez, litigation and advocacy director at Americans for Immigrant Justice, told the New York Times. 'Conditions were never great, but this is horrendous.' Among the recent fatalities are 49-year-old Johnny Noviello, a Canadian who was found unresponsive on 23 June at a detention facility in Miami. Another is Jesus Molina-Veya, 45, who died on 7 June while in Ice custody in Atlanta. Molina-Veya, from Mexico, was found unconscious with a ligature around his neck, according to officials. His death remains under investigation. In response to Noviello's death, the Canadian government has pressed US authorities for more information. 'The government of Canada was notified of the death of a Canadian citizen while in custody in the United States. Canadian consular officials are urgently seeking more information from US officials. I offer my sincere condolences to the family,' Anita Anand, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, wrote on X. Despite the high death toll, immigration enforcement remains a top funding priority for the Trump administration. Border and immigration enforcement have been making up two-thirds of federal law enforcement spending. Under Trump's proposed 'big, beautiful bill', the US would commit $350bn to national security, including for the president's mass deportation agenda.
