FLAGSTAFF, Fla. — Nestled deep within the Florida Everglades, on a remote airstrip cut off from roads and public scrutiny, a tent city of chain-link cages has become America’s newest immigration nightmare. It’s been dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” and for the detainees imprisoned there, it’s not just a name—it’s a sentence.
Reports from inside the new detention site, hastily erected by Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration and recently toured by former President Donald Trump, paint a dystopian picture of life inside: worm-infested food, toilets that don’t flush, flooded floors of human waste, unbearable heat, and no access to legal counsel or basic hygiene.
“They’re treating us like animals,” said a Venezuelan man detained at the site since July 7. “We are locked up like zoo creatures—no windows, no clocks, no way to tell time. There are mosquitoes everywhere. They want us to break. They want us to self-deport.”
Detainees describe cages crammed with eight bunks, guarded 24/7. When anyone is taken to see an ICE officer, they’re shackled at the wrists and ankles, flanked by two guards with another behind them. The air conditioning fails without warning. Access to medications is sporadic at best. Showers are rare. Meals arrive once a day, and, according to detainees, come riddled with worms.
One Cuban detainee reportedly told his wife—herself a green card holder and mother of their U.S. citizen toddler—”They have no way to bathe, no way to wash their mouths. The toilet overflows and the floor is flooded with pee and poop. They eat once a day and have two minutes to eat. The meals have worms.”
In response to these claims, Florida Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman dismissed the reports as “complete fabrications,” insisting the site “meets all required standards.” She said detainees have “unlimited drinking water, showers, medicine, and three meals a day.”
But immigration attorneys and advocates aren’t buying it.
“There is zero transparency,” said immigration attorney Katie Blankenship, who was barred from speaking to clients after waiting hours at the gate. Among her clients is a 15-year-old Mexican boy with no criminal charges.
“They told me to wait for a call in 48 hours. When I asked for a number to call, they said there wasn’t one,” she said. “It’s a due process black hole.”
The camp was erected at breakneck speed, with no public input, and has remained off-limits to media. Lawmakers have also been denied access—prompting a lawsuit by Democratic members of Congress demanding entry. A site visit for legislators is scheduled for Saturday, under pressure.
Inside, detainees are said to be deteriorating rapidly. A group of men recently launched a protest by refusing to enter the dining area. In retaliation, one Cuban man was reportedly thrown into a punishment cell, according to University of Miami law professor Rebecca Sharpless.
“This is psychological warfare,” said immigration attorney Josephine Arroyo. “They’re isolating these people in the middle of a swamp, cutting them off from their lawyers, and pushing them to give up and leave.”
Many of those held at Alligator Alcatraz have no criminal history, and some are legal U.S. residents or DACA recipients. Blankenship’s Cuban client had even paid bond and was told he’d be released in Miami—only to be quietly transferred to the Everglades facility instead.
“I don’t think Americans understand what’s being done in their name,” said attorney Atara Eig, who has been unable to secure a bond hearing for a client in his 50s with no criminal record and a pending stay of removal.
Meanwhile, detainees remain in legal limbo. Some have heard that immigration cases might be routed through Miami’s Krome Detention Center, but no official process has been communicated.
“It’s a black site, plain and simple,” said Eig. “They’ve built a legal desert in the middle of a swamp.”
Despite denials from Florida officials, the testimonies from inside “Alligator Alcatraz” continue to grow louder—and more disturbing.
As one detainee put it bluntly: “They want us to disappear.”