Alligator Alcatraz is shutting down, permanently. May it rest in pieces, much like the debacle of a public policy it was and the costly consequences the state of Florida must confront after the controversial detention center is gone.
In announcing the detention center’s end, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeir contended that the detention center was never meant to be permanent and hopes the site will become a “protected” environmental area. That’s rich coming from a man who came up with the name and has joined other state and federal officials who zealously ignored existing environmental laws and regulations to build a cruel deportation program in the Florida Everglades.
Make no mistake. Alligator Alcatraz was born out of cruelty, as its very name clearly suggests. Initially shrouded in secrecy, it didn’t take long before the detention center’s inhumane conditions ― ranging from reports of torture, being served food infested with maggots, to living in overcrowded cages and sharing clogged toilets that often overflowed into their sleeping areas ― the hastily built facility drew its share of controversy, outrage and of course several lawsuits.
A majority of the detainees ― an estimated 60% ― didn’t have criminal records. Those estimates made a mockery of the stated purpose behind the nation’s immigration crackdown that emphasized detaining and deporting criminals.
Alligator Alcatraz will be remembered for its atrocities and the zeal the state of Florida used to implement a failed federal immigration policy that both shames and violates the laws and ideals of the United States. Cruel detention is not the appropriate response from a nation whose economy and very existence relies on legal immigrant population.
Alligator Alcatraz closure couldn’t come soon enough
What had once been the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a site located in a remote part of the Everglades in Collier County, became the South Florida Detention Facility, after Gov. Ron DeSantis took it over through an emergency order. The idea was to convert the former airstrip into a detention center to show support for President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration. The airstrip and its remote location made it ideal for the center’s prime purpose ― quick deportations.
The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration restrictions has had mixed effects. Thanks to sweeping raids by ICE and local law enforcement, the number of deportations swelled to more than 600,000, well short of the administration’s goal but enough to produce local economic damage, labor shortages and widespread civil rights concerns.
Alligator Alcatraz was Florida’s contribution to a flawed federal policy. Trump visited the facility, participating in a walking tour and a panel discussion in which he reiterated that his deportation policies were aimed at “the worst of the worst.” A very pleased DeSantis echoed the sentiments of the visiting administration officials.
“On any given day, Florida constitutes about 20% of all immigration arrests nationwide,” DeSantis said at the time. “What I would just say is don’t let Florida be the only state. We got very red states that should be doing this just as much as Florida is doing. That will increase their numbers.”
That was then. Now, the enthusiasm for massive deportation detention facilities, like Alligator Alcatraz and the recent disclosure of warehouses purchased by ICE to house undocumented immigrants, has since waned.
As Alligator Alcatraz comes to an end, potentially costly questions facing state leaders remain.
The state still faces multiple federal lawsuits from environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, alleging Alligator Alcatraz violated federal laws protecting air and water quality and endangered animals. Uthmeir’s cleanup hopes aside, resolving the litigation and restoring the area to a pre-detention camp status will cost Florida taxpayers millions.
There’s also the matter of who pays for the detention center that was reported to have cost $1.2 million a day to operate. State officials had hoped that the Trump administration would help with a promised $608 million federal reimbursement. Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen, leaving Floridians stuck with the bill as Uthmeir himself acknowledged in court papers filed earlier this year in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The structure of Alligator Alcatraz will soon be gone. Its ignoble legacy unfortunately will linger on.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Alligator Alcatraz is closing. Goodbye and good riddance | Editorial
Reporting by Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
