The entrance to the state-managed immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades on August 03, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A new case of alleged human rights violations involving Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center has reached a federal court.
This week, two individuals detained at the facility testified that they experienced multiple violations of their First Amendment rights, including being denied access to legal counsel and free speech, at Florida's controversial immigration detention center.
Since opening its doors last year, Alligator Alcatraz has been the subject of repeated reports alleging abuse against migrants detained there. In this recent case reported by the Miami Herald, the two plaintiffs told the court they were forced to write their lawyers' phone numbers on their bunks and walls using bars of soap after they were denied pens and paper, while phones available to detainees repeatedly glitched or failed when they attempted to contact legal counsel.
"The call would immediately drop," said one formerly detained man, identified only by his initials, H.C.R. "We didn't have any information, and neither did our relatives," he said during a video call to the court from Bogotá, Colombia, where he was deported in October.
Related-
DHS, Florida Officials Weigh Opening New Immigration Detention Center in Orlando
-
Protesters Outside Alligator Alcatraz Seek To Draw Attention To Its Operation Despite Closure Order
According to the outlet, the lawsuit accuses federal and state immigration enforcement agencies and officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
During the hearing, an outside contractor overseeing legal scheduling testified to "massaging" policies in an effort to comply with federal immigration standards, as reported by the Miami Herald.
Mark Saunders, vice president of The Nakamoto Group — a contracting company that hires correctional professionals to work in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities — told the court that policies were "written rather quickly" and included outright falsehoods, including references to a Nakamoto Group legal team that did not exist.
According to the report, the contractor manages an email inbox used to schedule legal visits, which the plaintiffs argue obstructed access to clients facing urgent legal situations. Those suing said the separate visitation request system is unnecessary and has functioned as a barrier to constitutionally protected access to legal counsel.
During the hearing, ICE's deputy director for its Miami field office, Juan Lopez Vega, was called to testify before the federal court. Despite the abuses described by the plaintiffs, Vega insisted the facility is in compliance with all relevant standards based on reports he has reviewed, though he acknowledged he has not set foot at Alligator Alcatraz since it opened last summer.
Through an interpreter, H.C.R. described his time at the Florida immigration detention center as a "rather humiliating experience."
"They did not remove handcuffs for meals, so it was very difficult to eat. They restricted access to my medications," he said.
J.E., the other detainee who testified, described similar treatment during his detention at Alligator Alcatraz.
"They don't treat people fairly there, they abuse people there," he said.
H.C.R. also said that when he was first detained and taken to Alligator Alcatraz, staff presented him with documents and pressured him to sign them.
"I didn't know what they said because they were in English," H.C.R. said. "The officer told me to sign quickly."
As noted by the Miami Herald, plaintiffs' attorneys intended to present testimony from a third former detainee at the Everglades facility, but attorney Eunice Cho of the American Civil Liberties Union told the court the witness had recently gone missing after being deported, despite a judge previously granting him protection under the Convention Against Torture, which is intended to prevent deportation when a person is likely to be tortured.
Related-
Petro Says Colombians Are Treated 'Like Slaves and Dogs' in the U.S., Urges Them to Return Home
-
DHS Review Finds No Evidence Alex Pretti Brandished a Weapon Despite Claims From Kristi Noem
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tags: Alligator alcatraz, Florida, United States