Miami’s first Cuban-born Mayor is joining the ranks of pro-immigrant and environmental groups speaking out against ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’
Longtime South Florida politician and attorney Xavier Suarez told WLRN he opposes the new detention center for two reasons.
“I’ve always been pro-immigration. I’m an immigrant myself, how could I not be. It saddens me to see people treated as some of the rhetoric that they use,” Suarez said.
He says the facility in the Everglades poses both humanitarian and environmental issues.
It is located at an airport used for training about 50 miles west of Miami and will have a capacity of about 3,000 detainees when fully operational, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials.
The first group of immigrant detainees arrived Wednesday.
READ MORE: Florida legislators 'illegally' denied entry to 'Alligator Alcatraz'. They vow: 'We will be back'
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