ORLANDO, Fla. – Attorneys representing the U.S. government have disclosed that some of the individuals detained at the Florida Everglades immigration detention facility, often referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz,” may never have participated in removal proceedings. This challenges the narrative endorsed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis since the facility began operations in July.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawyers revealed this information in a court document filed on Thursday. They argued that the detainees at the Everglades facility are too varied in their circumstances to qualify as a single class in a lawsuit addressing their access to legal representation.
Removal proceedings refer to the legal steps undertaken by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ascertain whether an individual should be expelled from the country.
The DOJ attorneys wrote that the detainees at the Everglades facility have too many different immigration statuses to be considered a class.
They explained, “The proposed class encompasses all detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, a detention center for those at varying stages of immigration proceedings — likely including individuals who have never been subjected to removal proceedings, those scheduled for such proceedings, those with final removal orders, those under expedited removal, and those detained to facilitate removal as per a final order.”
Since the detention center started operations, Governor DeSantis has claimed publicly that each detainee has undergone the process affirming their illegal status in the U.S.
During a July 25 news conference outside the detention center, DeSantis said, “Everybody here is already on a final removal order.”
“They have been ordered to be removed from the country,” he added.
During a speech on July 29 at a Florida Sheriffs Association conference, the governor remarked, “The individuals transferred to Alligator Alcatraz are unlawfully present in the country and have all received final removal orders.”
He added, “So, if you have an order to be removed, what is the possible objection to the federal government enforcing that removal order?”
DeSantis’ press office didn’t respond Monday morning to an email seeking comment.
The court filing by the DOJ attorneys was made in a lawsuit in which civil rights groups allege the facility’s detainees have been denied proper access to attorneys in violation of their constitutional rights. The civil rights groups on Thursday asked a federal judge in Fort Myers for a preliminary injunction that would establish stronger protections for detainees to meet with attorneys privately and share documents confidentially.
The court case is one of three lawsuits filed by environmental and civil rights groups over the detention center, which was hastily built this summer by the state of Florida and operated by private contractors and state agencies.
A federal judge in Miami ordered in August that the facility must wind down operations within two months, agreeing with environmental groups that the remote airstrip site wasn’t given a proper environmental review before it was converted into an immigration detention center. But operations continued after the judge’s preliminary injunction was put on hold in early September by an appellate court panel. At one point, the facility held more than 900 detainees, but most of them were transferred after the initial injunction. It wasn’t clear on Monday how many detainees were at the center, which was built to hold 3,000 people.
President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations. Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been approved for a $608 million reimbursement for the costs of building and running the immigration detention center.
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