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State responds to lawmakers who tried to visit Alligator Alcatraz

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Published  July 8, 2025 4:35pm EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News
Lawmakers seek access to 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Lawmakers seek access to 'Alligator Alcatraz'

FOX 13's Evan Axelbank shares the response from Democratic lawmakers who are still trying to inspect 'Alligator Alcatraz' after being denied last week on account of safety.

The Brief

    • The state is responding to lawmakers who are trying to inspect Alligator Alcatraz.
    • A group of Democratic lawmakers tried to get into the Everglades detention site, but were denied last week on account of safety.
    • The state says legislators do not have an inherent right to visit it and said they don't have to let them in because, in their view, it is not technically a state correctional facility.

FLORIDA - The state is responding to lawmakers who are trying to inspect Alligator Alcatraz.

A group of Democratic lawmakers tried to get into the Everglades detention site, but were denied last week on account of safety.

"It begs the question of what does the state have to hide?" said State. Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando).

State Rep. Anna Eskamani says the concern is the conditions inside.

Is the state providing suitable water, food and showers as promised? Are legal services accessible?

She says calls have come in from both families and attorneys of detainees saying they are not.

But without a visit, it can't be verified.

What they're saying:

"You would think for the state being so proud to brag about this new detention center that they would allow people to come in and see what the conditions are with individuals now being detained."

Another lawmaker says he's heard from the head of the Orange County Jail that several inmates were relocated to Alligator Alcatraz without having any criminal charges.

"We lose a lot of transparency and visibility once ICE gains custody of those individuals and takes them out of the Orange County jail," said State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando).

He says that flies in the face of what the president said a week ago.

"The worst of the worst, always first."

READ: Mosquitoes become a concern at Alligator Alcatraz

What's next:

To find out who is there and for what, Democratic lawmakers are heavily considering a lawsuit, insisting that barring them from a visit violates more than the spirit of the law.

"It's an overt sign that they are hiding something from lawmakers and from the public," said Sen. Smith.

A lawsuit filed by the Friends of the Everglades over environmental concerns, to immediately stop the Alligator Alcatraz project, is still pending.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank.

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