'Art-based' protest calls out state contractor tied to Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention camp
By Sergio R. Bustos
November 14, 2025 at 6:58 PM EST
A coalition of Florida grassroots organizations held an "art-based" protest Saturday night outside the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, calling out Florida Grand Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart, accusing her of profiting from the detention of immigrants at Alligator Alcatraz.
“Tonight’s action was a powerful reminder that art should illuminate truth—not hide injustice," the protest organizers said in a joint statement.
The protest was led by progressive groups Florida Rising, Florida For All, Florida Immigrant Coalition, and ArtistsforArtists: Miami.
Accompanied by a violinist, an opera singer performed ZAVALA-ZAVALA, a 2022 opera inspired by the true story of family separation and survival at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Protest organizers said the opera told the story of a Honduran woman who was torn apart from her seven-year-old grandson by a Border Patrol Officer after crossing the Rio Grande in 2017.
Holding the demonstration on the opening night of the Florida Grand Opera, the protesters displayed a banner that read: "Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart profits from separating families."
"We stood outside the theater to expose a simple, devastating fact: Tina Vidal-Duart is using the arts to launder a public image built on the suffering of families," said the protest organizers.
"While she chairs the board of the Florida Grand Opera and presents herself as a champion of culture and philanthropy, her company, CDR Health, is profiting from the Everglades Detention
Camp," they said. "Tonight, we made sure that truth could not be ignored."
They want to see Tina Vidal-Duart withdraw her company, CDR Health, from the Everglades Detention Camp.
A coalition of Florida grassroots organizations held an "art-based" protest Saturday night (Nov. 15, 2025) outside the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, calling out Florida Grand Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart, accusing her of profiting from the detention of immigrants at Alligator Alcatraz. “Tonight’s action was a powerful reminder that art should illuminate truth—not hide injustice," the protest organizers said in a joint statement. (1616x1080, AR: 1.4962962962962962)
Vidal-Duart is CEO of CDR Health Care, Inc. and Executive Vice President of CDR Companies, Inc. She's also on the Board of Trustees at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The Miami Herald reported last July that Vidal-Duart and her husband, Carlos Duart, were among several nine state contractors who built Alligator Alcatraz to house suspected undocumented immigrants.
The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that the sprawling immigration detention center in the remote Everglades was built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. The list included companies owned by the Vidal-Duarts.
READ MORE: Republican donors and Florida’s hurricane know-how helped build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ so quickly
The Herald reported that CDR Maguire and its affiliated company, CDR Health, and its married chief executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, a $1.9 million to the two state political action committees supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bids for governor and to the Republican Party of Florida.
Duart has confirmed his companies’ involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they provided, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, “we get chosen because we do exceptional work.”
"While families are torn apart and communities live in fear, she and her husband, Carlos Duart, continue to enrich themselves off public dollars," said organizers in a statement issued before Saturday's protest.
"Floridians believe in family, fairness, and integrity—values that are fundamentally at odds with profiting from detention and deportation," said the protest organizers.
They have also created a website — our-cash.com — to urge the public to sign a letter that tells the Duarts couple "to cut ties with the Everglades Detention Camp and stop funding politicians who harm our communities."
“Tonight’s action was a powerful reminder that art should illuminate truth—not hide injustice," the protest organizers said in a joint statement.
The protest was led by progressive groups Florida Rising, Florida For All, Florida Immigrant Coalition, and ArtistsforArtists: Miami.
Accompanied by a violinist, an opera singer performed ZAVALA-ZAVALA, a 2022 opera inspired by the true story of family separation and survival at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Protest organizers said the opera told the story of a Honduran woman who was torn apart from her seven-year-old grandson by a Border Patrol Officer after crossing the Rio Grande in 2017.
Holding the demonstration on the opening night of the Florida Grand Opera, the protesters displayed a banner that read: "Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart profits from separating families."
"We stood outside the theater to expose a simple, devastating fact: Tina Vidal-Duart is using the arts to launder a public image built on the suffering of families," said the protest organizers.
"While she chairs the board of the Florida Grand Opera and presents herself as a champion of culture and philanthropy, her company, CDR Health, is profiting from the Everglades Detention
Camp," they said. "Tonight, we made sure that truth could not be ignored."
They want to see Tina Vidal-Duart withdraw her company, CDR Health, from the Everglades Detention Camp.
A coalition of Florida grassroots organizations held an "art-based" protest Saturday night (Nov. 15, 2025) outside the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, calling out Florida Grand Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart, accusing her of profiting from the detention of immigrants at Alligator Alcatraz. “Tonight’s action was a powerful reminder that art should illuminate truth—not hide injustice," the protest organizers said in a joint statement. (1616x1080, AR: 1.4962962962962962)
Vidal-Duart is CEO of CDR Health Care, Inc. and Executive Vice President of CDR Companies, Inc. She's also on the Board of Trustees at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The Miami Herald reported last July that Vidal-Duart and her husband, Carlos Duart, were among several nine state contractors who built Alligator Alcatraz to house suspected undocumented immigrants.
The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that the sprawling immigration detention center in the remote Everglades was built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. The list included companies owned by the Vidal-Duarts.
READ MORE: Republican donors and Florida’s hurricane know-how helped build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ so quickly
The Herald reported that CDR Maguire and its affiliated company, CDR Health, and its married chief executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, a $1.9 million to the two state political action committees supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bids for governor and to the Republican Party of Florida.
Duart has confirmed his companies’ involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they provided, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, “we get chosen because we do exceptional work.”
"While families are torn apart and communities live in fear, she and her husband, Carlos Duart, continue to enrich themselves off public dollars," said organizers in a statement issued before Saturday's protest.
"Floridians believe in family, fairness, and integrity—values that are fundamentally at odds with profiting from detention and deportation," said the protest organizers.
They have also created a website — our-cash.com — to urge the public to sign a letter that tells the Duarts couple "to cut ties with the Everglades Detention Camp and stop funding politicians who harm our communities."