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.
“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.
The first group of suspected undocumented immigrants arrived last week at the detention center.
Florida officials raced to erect the compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in eight days, as part of the state’s efforts to help carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. It includes more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security staff.
The facility 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 center is estimated to cost $450 million a year, with the expenses incurred by Florida and reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a U.S. official said.
Immigrants apprehended Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to a Trump administration official. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.
Environmental groups and Native American tribes have protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred.
READ MORE: Florida legislators 'illegally' denied entry to 'Alligator Alcatraz'. They vow: 'We will be back'
This is a News In Brief report. Visit WLRN News for in-depth reporting from South Florida and Florida news.
