A weekend fishing trip was the start of their horror.
M., who is originally from Guatemala, said as much and requested to be called by her initials only.
She resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with her spouse.
To fish for perch, they took their infant to the Everglades’ swamplands in early July.
A fish and wildlife officer approached her husband and asked for their fishing license while M. was taking a break to nurse in their car. He possessed one, but neither of them could produce a driver’s license because they are both undocumented in the United States. M. has spent ten years here. Her spouse, who is from El Salvador, has been in this country for twenty years.
The pair was detained and sent to a local jail, where they were separated after they were unable to produce a driver’s license. According to M., this was the final time she saw her husband before he joined the hundreds of other inmates at the contentious temporary detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Because she fears reprisal from immigration officials, she gave NPR their story under the condition that the entire family remain anonymous.
M. said she started to panic at the local jail. She had been nursing the infant and didn’t drink enough water because she has diabetes. She claims that she felt weak and was unable to settle her baby. She recounts hearing a knock on the wall at that moment.
She sobs as she recalls, “I told the baby, ‘That’s your father!'”
For the following eight hours, she claims, they continued pounding on the wall, back and forth.
Later that evening, M. and the child were set free. She was told to leave the country within three months and was made to wear an ankle monitor.
Nobody would reveal to her the location of her husband’s abduction. She claims that throughout the following three days, she searched the federal immigration detention website and spoke with immigration officers. However, M. was unable to locate him.
Trump: “We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator”
A new prison facility in the Everglades, in the swamps in the middle of the state, was the subject of press reports. The facility, which houses up to 5,000 migrant inmates in caged cells and tents, is located close to an infrequently used airfield. Florida hurriedly constructed it to house what Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem referred to as “the worst scumbags.” The prison was immediately dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by federal and Florida officials due to the hundreds of square miles of swampland and alligators that encircle it. According to DHS, the facility’s first year of operation will cost roughly $450 million.
“We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator,” President Trump said in jest the day he was at the facility. “Don’t run in a straight line.”
The plant has been the subject of numerous lawsuits since it began, including ones from environmental attorneys and human rights organizations. It is distinct in that the state of Florida is solely in charge of it.
Trump pledged, “This facility will house some of the most menacing migrants,” during a tour of the facility’s grounds. “Some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
However, as of right now, the president’s claim is not supported by the data. 71% of those in immigration detention nationwide have no criminal convictions, according to recent DHS data.A third of the immigrants detained at “Alligator Alcatraz” have no previous history, according to a Miami Herald investigation. The offenses committed by those who are convicted range from attempted murder to unlawful reentry and traffic infractions.
Twenty years ago, M.’s husband was accused of possessing cocaine. The charge was withdrawn when he entered a not guilty plea. Additionally, he entered a no contest plea to the misdemeanor of driving without a license. The pair now owns a landscaping company. They participate in local evangelical activities.
“What are we, in Russia? What is this?”
Following her release, M. got in touch with Jeff Botelho, an immigration attorney from Florida. “She was desperate,” according to Botelho. At the time, he promised to assist in trying to find M.’s husband, even though he does not now represent him.
Botelho encountered what several immigration attorneys have subsequently verified: it is extremely difficult to contact clients who are incarcerated at the “Alligator Alcatraz” or obtain any information about those who are there.
Botelho made several tries before deciding to contact the Florida attorney general’s office. He claims that after a brief moment of hesitation, the receptionist informed him that she lacked a number for “Alligator Alcatraz.”
According to Botelho, “I couldn’t believe it,” “What are we, in Russia?” I thought. What is this? “You don’t have the number for a facility where the Florida government houses immigrants?”
The institution is a health catastrophe waiting to happen, according to advocates.
NPR repeatedly contacted the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Florida attorney general, but never heard back. NPR was informed by the Department of Homeland Security that the claims of cruel treatment are untrue. “This is yet another attempt to smear ICE law enforcement,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to NPR.
M. received a call at three in the morning after four days of not hearing anything. Her husband was the one. Indeed, the Everglades facility was where he was being detained.
When M. states, “He said it was horrible,” “They’re confined in an area where both the air conditioner and the electricity go out. The heat gets oppressive. They can only take a shower once a week due to a lack of water.
Family members shared accounts from their detained loved ones, of vermin infestation, extreme heat, inedible food.
According to medical experts, mosquitoes pose a health risk. Dr. Armen Henderson, from the nonprofit Dade County Street Response, called it a disaster waiting to happen.
“Human rights are being violated here. Morally, this is unacceptable,” Henderson adds. “As a medical professional I am concerned. Zika, dengue, chikungunya, West Nile virus, these mosquito-borne illnesses are death sentences for people with chronic illness.”
Republican leadership says the facility is “above federal standards”
The Trump administration vehemently disputes charges that the detention facility is inhumane. At a press conference earlier this week, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, called these claims a “bunch of crap.”
“I was there,” Homan said. “I walked through detainee facilities. I walked through the medical facilities, I walked through the cafeteria. I had them show me, what did you feed these people today? I saw the lunch they fed them. They ate better yesterday than I ate today.”
Republican state Rep. Adam Botana, who represents Southwest Florida, told NPR he too recently toured the detention center. “The facility is run great,” he said. “Looked good. It was clean. It was cool. Everything is to federal standards. Above federal standards.”
Botana says he has compassion for some of these detainees. “It’s sad. Lot of folks there, and I’m sure there’s some that have been there for a long time.” But the law is the law, he says, and lawbreakers must be punished. “We have to close the borders. We have to deport the illegal immigrants,” says Botana. “We’re here at the state simply trying to enforce the mandate that Trump was elected on.”
It has been more than a month since M.’s husband was detained. In recent days, he was moved to another facility in Florida. M. now takes medication for panic attacks. She says as soon as he gets deported to his native El Salvador, which is very likely, she and the baby will follow.
This week Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced a new, 1,000-bed immigration facility in Indiana built in conjunction with the state. She dubbed it “the speedway slammer” after Indianapolis’s famous racetrack.
In fact, the Trump administration is in talks with several other states to create similar detention centers as it expands detention capacity nationwide.
“Alligator Alcatraz,” the administration says, isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s a blueprint.
If you have immigration tips, you can contact our tip line, on WhatsApp and Signal: 202-713-6697 or reporter Jasmine Garsd:[email protected]
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