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Immigrants held in small outdoor cages at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida, investigators find
The watchdog said the cages were highly unconventional and found one detainee was held nearly two hours, while sanitation and medical care also fell short.
- The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General confirmed on Monday that staff at the now-shuttered Alligator Alcatraz confined 79 detainees in small metal enclosures measuring 18 square feet, a practice the watchdog called highly unconventional and inconsistent with humane detention standards.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration opened the Everglades detention center in July 2025 as a temporary immigration enforcement site operating under a federal-state 287 partnership agreement with ICE.
- While facility staff described the enclosures as "calming areas" for detainees to "de-escalate and have time alone," detainees and Amnesty International reported the spaces were used as punishment, calling them "the box" and alleging torture.
- Because the facility ceased operations in June 2026, the inspector general administratively closed ten recommendations, including demands to stop using the cages and provide clean drinking water, leaving oversight questions unresolved.
- Financial records reveal the project cost taxpayers more than $1 billion, with daily per-bed expenses exceeding $3,000—roughly 15 times the typical ICE detention rate—underscoring the extreme cost and ongoing questions about federal accountability.
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64 Articles
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Total News Sources64
Leaning Left23Leaning Right4Center15Last UpdatedBias Distribution55% Left
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
55% Left
L 55%
C 36%
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