The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has transferred all detainees from the South Florida Detention Center, also known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, to other facilities due to concerns related to the hurricane season. The detention center, located in an isolated area of the Florida Everglades, has been criticized by lawyers, families, and human rights groups for its poor conditions and mistreatment of detainees.
Conditions at the Facility
Detainees at the facility have reported difficulty accessing lawyers and have described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere. The facility was built by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days and has been operating since July 2025.
Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said that transferring people out of the facility is an important step, but it does not erase the harm that has already been done. ‘The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again,’ she said.
Katie Blankenship, an immigration attorney at Sanctuary of the South, said that all 50 clients she and other attorneys have been providing free advice to have been moved from ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas.
Original reporting: Jacksonville Today — read the source article.
