Everglades, Alcatraz and Alligator
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A migrant detention center, known widely as “Alligator Alcatraz,” opened a little more than two weeks ago and most days since, people have come here to protest, but not on Saturday.
When Uthmeier appeared on cable news June 17 to announce what he dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the heart of the Everglades, it looked like a stunt to distract from other environmental threats. As it turns out, it was a stunt and he was serious.
Newsweek spoke with the attorney of a detainee and the friend of another. Both described harrowing conditions at the remote facility.
But data and news reports about the first month’s arrivals show the majority of Alligator Alcatraz’s detainees do not have U.S. criminal convictions. President Donald Trump, federal officials and Florida Republicans touted the remote Everglades immigration detention centers — dubbed Alligator Alcatraz — as a place to detain people deemed the "worst of the worst.
A lawsuit claims detainees at Florida’s 'Alligator Alcatraz' are denied legal access, with no way to challenge their detention or contact attorneys.
It seems that the DeSantis administration just pulled more than a dozen contracts tied to the Everglades Immigration Detention facility from a public database of state contracts. These contracts total more than $200 million in taxpayer spending, and they are public records.
Without permanent structures, electricity or running water, logistical headaches have emerged at “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Butcher is one of south Florida's most well-known artists, and he's grown famous for his black-and-white landscape pictures of the Everglades.