A congressman visited Alligator Alcatraz to see for himself if it’s closing down
The number of immigrants held at Florida’s immigration detention center in the Everglades dropped by the hundreds in recent weeks ahead of the controversial facility’s expected closure, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost said on Tuesday after touring the facility
Frost, a Democrat from Orlando, said he made a planned visit to the detention camp known as Alligator Alcatraz to see for himself how things are going following reports that contractors were told the facility’s final days were at hand. He said he confirmed that the facility had begun scaling back operations, despite “conflicting messages” from the Trump and DeSantis administrations about plans for the site.
“It is apparent that they are winding down this facility,” Frost told reporters following a tour led by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the site. “Many of the staff, when they were talking to me about what they were doing, used terms like ‘decompressing’ and ‘winding down’.”
Frost, who first toured the detention center last summer in the days after it was hastily erected and opened, said the facility’s population had dropped to 655 detainees from 1,400 in April. As he toured the detention center, he witnessed a plane taking off from the facility with detainees bound for Texas. He said he saw written on a board that two flights were scheduled for Tuesday.
“They are not receiving any new people as of now,” he said he was told.
The Miami Herald has reached out to the Division of Emergency Management and the Department of Homeland Security for comment. The Herald has requested access to visit the site, but has not received a response.
During his tour, Frost said, he observed the intake area of the facility, which would usually be filled with people, staff and detainees, but was “completely empty.” The computer systems “had been unplugged and taken out,” he said. Even the coffee pots and fridge had been removed from the break area.
One of the tents had already been taken down as far back as January. The Staffing numbers had dropped to 750. The amount of gas used by the generators was also down.
“No matter what the governor says, it is very apparent from my trip here today and from my oversight visit that they were winding down this facility,” Frost said. “They are only losing detainees and putting them in other places.”
While he did not speak with any of the detainees during his visit, he said the conditions in the cages remained the same.
Frost said he planned the visit to verify that the facility was being shut down and “to demand accountability for the damage that had already been done here.”
At a press conference after his visit, Frost said Floridians deserved to know what was done at the controversial site and how much it cost in taxpayer dollars. He said there needed to be full accountability and an audit of the state’s $1 million per day spent operating the detention center, as well as the lucrative no-bid contracts the vendors received.
He said taxpayers cannot allow for the facility to shut down and “just forget about it.”
“People have no money. Rents are going up. People can’t afford to fill their cars with gas,” he said, “And yet $1 million a day of our money was used for this facility that is ultimately closing down. ”
The Division of Emergency Management did not give Frost a date on when the facility will officially close, he said.