COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Cuban-American Democrat from Central Florida, returned to the remote state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades state officials call ‘Alligator Alcatraz.”
The facility was created to help the Trump administration with its mass deportation immigration policy.
Speaking outside the facility, Frost said he planned to speak with detainees from his district, Florida’s 10th, which covers part of the Orlando area, and other parts of the state, while speaking to the facility being performative theater and cruelty for entertainment.
“There are only 336 people there right now,” said Frost. “The last time I came here it was darn well a thousand. (There are) still cages, still horrible conditions. I thought because much less people, they would spread them around and not have 32 per cage, but that was not the case.”
After leaving the facility, Frost said he was unable to speak to the people he was planning to visit.
“That we had already cleared with the state just yesterday, but I was unable to meet with any of the people that I was set out here to meet with,” Frost said. “They said they were transferred out, they were moved out.”
Frost is one of more than 60 Democratic lawmakers co-signing on a letter to senior leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, pressing them for more information about the interplay between the feds and state.
“The ambiguity is part of their strategy to stay away from being held accountable,” he said.
He also said that new polling shows even some Republican voters are uncomfortable with the way Trump administration has been carrying out immigration policy, calling out the three Cuban-American Republicans out of Miami, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Salazar, who he said are facing pressing questions from constituents as they play lip service to Hispanic-American groups but not standing up for them.
Frost believes that as more pressure mounts on Republicans, he suspects they will begin to join Democrats in a fight for accountability and a more humane and compassionate and fiscally responsible approach to immigration policy.
“We hope that Republicans will come with us on this journey to make sure that we fight for humanity, for our constituents, for our people,” said Frost.
He said private contractors are engaging in callousness, violating constitutional rights and environmental law to the financial benefit of the people running the private organizations constructing, building and operating the site.
A related First Amendment case is currently playing out in federal court, and the lawmakers want to know if an environmental review was completed prior to construction of the facility.
The answer, says some environmental groups, is no, which would be violating environmental law.
The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to stop any further construction or use of the site for the purpose of immigration detention until the state and federal government defendants comply with the National Environmental policy Act.
In that case, the judge’s ruling is expected before the temporary restraining order she already put in place expires on Thursday.
“We know that we will hear any minute today or any time tomorrow from the judge,” he said. “Our hope is that they will receive a decision that shuts this place down.”
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