MIAMI — Democrats on Saturday called for the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” after touring the controversial pop-up tent immigration detention center that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly assembled in the Everglades.
DeSantis has looked to match President Donald Trump’s hard line on immigration, painting his state as an eager partner in the president’s plan to detain and deport potentially millions of immigrants.
At least five members of Congress and roughly 20 state legislators toured the detention center over the weekend, the first inspection by elected officials of the area since it opened about a week ago. Trump visited the site ahead of detainees arriving earlier this month, accompanied by DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and since then news accounts of dire living conditions have emerged.
While Republicans insisted that the facility was appropriate and clean, and staffed similar to any detention facility, Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about food quantity, drinking water and high temperatures, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz calling the facility an “internment camp.”
