Immigrant detainees and their loved ones are denouncing what they allege are terrible conditions — including a lack of water, issues with electricity and copious mosquitoes — at the state-managed immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades that officials have named “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Vladimir Miranda, a migrant from Cuba who has been at the facility since Sunday, said that “right now the generators apparently can’t cope and the electricity is going out,” he told Telemundo 51 via telephone call. When the electricity goes out there’s no water and the phones and air conditioners don’t work, “and we’re here sweating” profusely, Miranda said in his native Spanish.
His girlfriend, Eveling Ortiz told NBC 6 that Miranda crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and, like many Cuban migrants, was given the I-220A form that documents that a migrant has been released into the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“He had the final hearing two weeks ago,” she said.
But days later, Miranda, 32, was detained by immigration officials at his job in Orlando and moved to the Everglades facility.
“The conditions they’re going through, they’re horrible,” Ortiz alleged. “They don’t have water, they can’t use the bathroom properly. They’re not taking a bath.”
Miranda hadn’t had access to immigration attorneys, Ortiz added.
Miranda’s allegations echo other detainees’ accounts. Leamsy Izquierdo, also known as Leamsy La Figura, a self-described Cuban urban artist, has been at the detention center since Friday.
“There is no water here to bathe,” Izquierdo said in Spanish to Telemundo 51 from inside the facility, adding it’s been four days since he showered. Izquierdo also alleged that “they give you food only once a day, food that even has worms in it.” Detention center lights are always on, 24/7, he said, and the mosquitoes are “the size of elephants.”
Izquierdo said they are not allowed to go outside, and the tents detainees are kept in are freezing.
According to Izquierdo’s partner, he’s a permanent resident. He was sent to the facility following assault and battery charges involving a dispute with a tow company worker; he’s pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Several other detainees at the facility have made similar complaints. A Colombian national said he’s been there for three days without access to medicine he needs.
NBC South Florida has reached out to ICE, but a spokesperson said they cannot talk about detainees who are not in one of their facilities. The Everglades detention center is run by the state, which has not responded to requests for comment.
The Florida Immigration Coalition is urging Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to file a lawsuit against the state, with the hopes that the detention center will be shut down.
Levine Cava, a Democrat, sent a letter to the Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, stating the land owned by the county has been “commandeered” by the state and requesting access to the facility. She asked for “weekly site reports summarizing conditions at the facility,” remote video monitoring access and scheduled site visits by a small oversight team so it can check for compliance, safety and possible environmental impacts.
