Tallahassee, Florida (AP) – An immigration detention installation located in an isolated Everglades aerodrome surrounded by marshy, Python and Alligator is a few days to be operational, federal officials announced on Tuesday.
Florida officials continue with the construction of what they nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” to help realize President Donald Trump mass expulsion programWorking to build a compound of heavy tents, trailers and temporary buildings similar to the sites used during natural disasters.
The construction of the installation in the distant wetland and ecologically sensitive to around 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami is alarming, as well as human rights defenders who criticized the plan as cruel and inhuman.
State officials claim that the installation is essential to support the repression of federal government immigration, which has led to a record number of detentions, totaling more than 56,000 immigrants in June, the most since 2019.
Here’s what you need to know.
5,000 detention beds in early July
Construction of the site in summer dogs is part of the state plan to operationalize 5,000 immigration detention beds in early July, according to the Florida Attorney General James Uthmeiera former chief of staff of the republican governor Ron Desantis and a key architect state Aggressive immigration application campaign. Uthmeier helped coordinate the Flights funded by the State about 50 Venezuelans to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in 2022.
In the eyes of Florida officials, the difficult conditions surrounding the air track of distant Everglades and its track of almost 10,500 feet (3,200 meters) make it an ideal location to house and transport migrants.
“We don’t need to build a lot of brick and mortar,” said Uthmeier in an interview with conservative media Benny Johnson. “And fortunately, Mother Nature does a lot on the perimeter.”
“There is really nowhere to go. If you are hosted there, if you are detained, there is no way, no way,” added Uthmeier.
The Trump administration wants more to double its 41,000 existing beds for the holding of migrants to at least 100,000 beds.
A bill of tax reconciliation and budget reconciliation approved last month by the House of Representatives of the United States includes $ 45 billion over four years for the holding of immigrantsA triple increase in expenses. The Senate now examines this legislation.
Democrats and activists denounce the plan
Over 50 years ago, environmental defenders, including the famous Marjory Stoneman Douglas, rallied to prevent the same section of land from being transformed into what should be the The largest airport in the world.
Now activists come together to stop what some criticisms have described as a “burglary” supported by the state.
“Surrounded by the Everglades National Park and the large national cypress reserve, this land is part of one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country,” reads a declaration by the defense group of the friends of the Everglades. “Let us not repeat the errors of the past. This land deserves sustainable protection.”
The United States Democrat representative in Florida, Maxwell Frost, condemned the detention center, describing its apparent use of alligators as a security measure a “cruel spectacle”.
“Donald Trump, his administration and catalysts have clarified a brutally clear thing: they intend to use government power to kidnap, brutalize, starve and harm each immigrant that they can – because they have a deep disdain for immigrants and use them to complete the serious problems faced by workers,” said Frost in a declaration.
Maria Asuncion Bilbao, Florida campaign at the American Friends Service Committee, a defense group for immigration defenders, warned that the health and security of detainees were endangered.
“What is happening is very worrying, the level of dehumanization,” said Bilbao. “It’s like theatricalization of cruelty.”
Bilbao, who leads a group of immigration defenders who help immigrants in one of the southern Florida ice offices, said that she was concerned about the health and mosquito health risks, and the challenges that the remoteness of the site presents to the members of the community in the hope of protesting or monitoring activities there.
DHS supports the initiative
Officials of the American Department of Internal Security applauded the agency’s effort and “partnership with Florida”.
DHS secretary Kristi Noem said that the new installation will be largely funded by the Shelter and Services program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
“We work in Turbo Speed on profitable and innovative means to deliver the mandate of the American people for mass deportations of criminal foreigners,” said Noem in a written declaration provided to the AP. “We will expand the installations and the bed space in a few days.”
The management of the establishment “via a team of suppliers” will cost $ 245 per day per day or approximately $ 450 million per year, said an American official. Expenditure will be incurred by Florida and reimbursed by FEMA, which has a fund of $ 625 million in shelter and service program.
Immigrants arrested by agents of the application of Florida laws under the federal Program 287 (G) will be held in the establishment, as well as immigrants in the care of the application of American immigration and customs services, or ice.
Under the recited program 287 (G), agents of the application of local laws and states may question immigrants under their care and hold them to potential expulsion.
The agencies in the 67 counties of Florida signed more than 280 agreements of this type, more than a third of the 720 agreements that the ice has reached the country.
Florida uses emergency powers to build the site
State representatives reduce the land using emergency powers, under an executive decree issued by Desantis during the administration of the president of the time, Joe Biden, to respond to what the governor judged a crisis caused by illegal immigration.
Florida goes ahead with the construction on land belonging to the county on the concerns of the mayor of the county of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, local militants and Amerindian tribal leaders who consider the sacred region.
By relying on decrees, the state is able to bypass the purchasing laws and returning the project, which, according to Nikki Fried, said that the president of the Florida Democratic Party said that abuse of power.
The ordinances grant the scanning authority to the head of state emergency management, Kevin Guthrie, including the power to suspend “any law, rule or order” considered as slowing down the response to emergency and the capacity to place certain members of the law enforcement staff on the other side of the State under its “direct and coordination order”.
“Governor Desantis insisted that the state of Florida, under his leadership, would facilitate the federal government in the application of immigration law,” said a spokesperson for Deantis in a statement.
“Florida will continue to lead to the application of immigration.”
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The writer Associated Press, Gisela Salomon, reported to Miami. Kate Payne is a member of the body for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national services program that places journalists from local editorial rooms to report on under-cover issues.
