Florida congresswoman: 1,500 people remain housed under 'inhumane' conditions at Alligator Alcatraz
By Sergio R. Bustos
April 9, 2026 at 7:11 PM EDT
Following an unannounced visit Thursday to the Everglades immigration detention center, also known as Alligator Alcatraz, Democratic South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told reporters that nearly 1,500 detainees continue to be housed under "inhumane" conditions and that federal immigration authorities refused to answer her questions about the facility's treatment of detainees.
Wasserman-Schultz, D-Weston, a vocal critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies, said Florida Department of Emergency Management staff and contractors led her on the guided tour but that she was not allowed to speak to any of the detainees. She and other members of Congress toured the controversial facility last summer after it opened.
“Like nine months ago, I came away with the reaction that this facility is inhumane, that the way the detainees are housed is cruel and unnecessary, that ICE is hiding behind Florida state agencies to avoid any obligation to treat people humanely, and that the cost of the facility itself is being hidden behind the state of Florida,” said Wasserman Schultz.
“On many of the questions that I had about how decisions are made about, they said that I had to talk to someone from ICE — who was on the premises — but refused to talk to me following the tour," she said.
READ MORE: How US communities have responded to plans to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have long disputed negative descriptions of the conditions at the detention center, labeling them as false.
President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
Florida officials built the facility of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in eight days as part of the state’s efforts to help carry out Trump’s national immigration crackdown. Those detained are suspected of being in the country illegally. It is located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 50 miles west of Miami.
Inside the compound’s large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link cages that house the detainees.
"To be housing ICE detainees in a detention camp in the middle of the Everglades … without making sure that they have enough access to nutritious food and the ability to sleep and have access to counsel — everything about this screams inhumane and unnecessary," Wasserman Schultz told reporters.
The congresswoman said more than 1,000 [~1,500] men are being held in cages across eight sections of the facility. She said the dorm area was humid, smelled of urine and had limited toilets.
The Everglades Detention Center has cost Florida taxpayers at least $640 million, said Wasserman Schultz, who noted that a large majority of detainees — about 65% — do not have a criminal history and only 27 percent are categorized as ‘high threat’ by ICE officials.
Wasserman Schultz has proposed legislation in Congress that would "prohibit the use of federal funds to construct, reimburse, or operate any detention facility in the Everglades."
The "No Cages in the Everglades Act" would also permanently bar any Administration from keeping congressional members or their staff from carrying out oversight visits at detention facilities.
Two Democratic senators — Sen. Jon Ossoff, of Georgia, and Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois — last month announced an investigation into allegations of human rights abuses at the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention site.
The immigration detention center in the Everglades has also been the subject of three separate lawsuits filed in federal court since its opening last July.
In one lawsuit filed last summer, the Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, alleged that federal and state agencies didn't follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.
In another lawsuit, a detainee said Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state had no authority to operate the center under federal law. The challenge ended after the immigrant detainee who filed the lawsuit agreed to be removed from the United States.
In the third lawsuit, a federal judge in Fort Myers, Florida, recently ruled the Everglades facility must provide detainees there with better access to their attorneys, as well as confidential, unmonitored and unrecorded outgoing legal calls.
Wasserman-Schultz, D-Weston, a vocal critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies, said Florida Department of Emergency Management staff and contractors led her on the guided tour but that she was not allowed to speak to any of the detainees. She and other members of Congress toured the controversial facility last summer after it opened.
“Like nine months ago, I came away with the reaction that this facility is inhumane, that the way the detainees are housed is cruel and unnecessary, that ICE is hiding behind Florida state agencies to avoid any obligation to treat people humanely, and that the cost of the facility itself is being hidden behind the state of Florida,” said Wasserman Schultz.
“On many of the questions that I had about how decisions are made about, they said that I had to talk to someone from ICE — who was on the premises — but refused to talk to me following the tour," she said.
READ MORE: How US communities have responded to plans to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have long disputed negative descriptions of the conditions at the detention center, labeling them as false.
President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
Florida officials built the facility of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in eight days as part of the state’s efforts to help carry out Trump’s national immigration crackdown. Those detained are suspected of being in the country illegally. It is located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 50 miles west of Miami.
Inside the compound’s large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link cages that house the detainees.
"To be housing ICE detainees in a detention camp in the middle of the Everglades … without making sure that they have enough access to nutritious food and the ability to sleep and have access to counsel — everything about this screams inhumane and unnecessary," Wasserman Schultz told reporters.
The congresswoman said more than 1,000 [~1,500] men are being held in cages across eight sections of the facility. She said the dorm area was humid, smelled of urine and had limited toilets.
The Everglades Detention Center has cost Florida taxpayers at least $640 million, said Wasserman Schultz, who noted that a large majority of detainees — about 65% — do not have a criminal history and only 27 percent are categorized as ‘high threat’ by ICE officials.
Wasserman Schultz has proposed legislation in Congress that would "prohibit the use of federal funds to construct, reimburse, or operate any detention facility in the Everglades."
The "No Cages in the Everglades Act" would also permanently bar any Administration from keeping congressional members or their staff from carrying out oversight visits at detention facilities.
Two Democratic senators — Sen. Jon Ossoff, of Georgia, and Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois — last month announced an investigation into allegations of human rights abuses at the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention site.
The immigration detention center in the Everglades has also been the subject of three separate lawsuits filed in federal court since its opening last July.
In one lawsuit filed last summer, the Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, alleged that federal and state agencies didn't follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.
In another lawsuit, a detainee said Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state had no authority to operate the center under federal law. The challenge ended after the immigrant detainee who filed the lawsuit agreed to be removed from the United States.
In the third lawsuit, a federal judge in Fort Myers, Florida, recently ruled the Everglades facility must provide detainees there with better access to their attorneys, as well as confidential, unmonitored and unrecorded outgoing legal calls.