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'Alligator Alcatraz' detainees continue to face obstacles to meet with lawyers, court papers allege

If lawyers want to meet in-person with clients, they must schedule meeting 3 days in advance

WFTS

By: Associated Press , Jamie Ostroff

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There still are no protocols for attorneys to get in touch with clients at the immigration detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz," and detainees are often transferred just before scheduled lawyer visits, according to new court papers alleging continued unconstitutional obstacles to meeting with legal representatives.

Thursday's court papers were filed in response to a transfer from Miami to Fort Myers of the federal lawsuit claiming detainees have been denied private meetings with immigration attorneys while being held at the facility built by the state of Florida in the Everglades wilderness.

ACLU predicts gov't 'will bring more people' to Alligator Alcatraz

It also comes a week after a federal appellate court panel, in a separate environmental lawsuit, allowed operations to continue at the detention center by putting on hold a lower court's preliminary injunction ordering the facility to wind down by the end of October. A third federal lawsuit challenging practices at the facility claims immigration is a federal issue and Florida agencies and the private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility.

The American Civil Liberties Union's updated complaint in the civil rights lawsuit against the State of Florida and U.S. government alleges First Amendment violations continue despite claims of improvement.

"Obtaining in-person legal visits is incredibly challenging, to the point of futility," one immigration attorney stated in a declaration included in the new Thursday filing.

One attorney noted that "this delay is unheard of in other detention facilities."

"Detained individuals have a First Amendment right to communicate with their attorneys in confidence," lawyers said.

READ THE AMENDED COMPLAINT FILED BY ATTORNEYS:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to omit information about detainees at the facility from its online locator system, "so attorneys cannot confirm whether detained clients are held at the facility."

This comes despite federal government assurances last month that the issue had been resolved.

During videoconferences with their lawyers, detainees are placed in cages that aren't soundproof with staff in earshot, and documents for clients are subject to review by staff, the attorneys said.

The ACLU is now alleging what it calls a "pattern" of transferring detainees out of Alligator Alcatraz immediately before scheduled attorney visits. Court documents show one attorney arranged meetings with 10 clients for Aug. 14, only to have all meetings canceled the night before when all 10 clients were transferred elsewhere.

Less than two weeks later, the same attorney scheduled meetings with 21 clients, only to discover that all 21 had been transferred out of the facility after those visits were scheduled to begin.

Unlike other detention facilities, which don't require prior appointments, at the Everglades facility, if lawyers want to meet in person with their clients, they must schedule a meeting three days in advance. That gives the facility the opportunity to transfer out detainees, denying them legal access, the lawyers said.

When WPTV reached out to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which attorneys representing the state and federal governments have identified as being in charge of Alligator Alcatraz, a spokeswoman directed us to contact ICE. However, ICE then directed us to contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. WPTV is still waiting for a response.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration in late June raced to build the facility on an isolated airstrip surrounded by wetlands to aid President Donald Trump's efforts to deport people living in the U.S. illegally. Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups around the nation as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.

The center has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system. Other states have since announced plans to open their own immigration detention centers.

As part of the legal rights lawsuit, the attorneys for the detainees want to make a visit to the facility in mid-October, but the federal and state government defendants said it wasn't necessary. The detainees' attorneys also asked for permission to keep their clients anonymous in public court filings and to use pseudonyms instead.

"At a time of increasingly violent anti-immigrant rhetoric in Florida and across the country, immigrants detained at Alligator Alcatraz are subjected to extreme vitriol, including from officials at the highest levels of government," they wrote.

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