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Detainee population at Alligator Alcatraz is dropping. Where are they going?

Population at the Everglades detention facility dropped from nearly 1,500 to 655 in recent weeks, raising questions about where detainees are being transferred

WFTS

By: Jamie Ostroff

Posted

The population at the Everglades immigration detention facility, known as "Alligator Alcatraz," has dropped sharply in recent weeks, raising new questions about where detainees are being transferred and what legal protections they have access to.

According to ICE data, Alligator Alcatraz housed nearly 1,500 people as recently as last month. U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said Tuesday that the number had dropped to 655.

WATCH BELOW: Alligator Alcatraz population dropping. Where are detainees going?

Alligator Alcatraz population dropping. Where are detainees going?

"They are not receiving any new people as of now. In fact, we witnessed a flight taking off," Frost said.

Data from Human Rights First, an organization that tracks immigration enforcement flights, shows a significant uptick in departing flights from Alligator Alcatraz since February.

Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida who is representing Alligator Alcatraz detainees in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit, said a potential closure does not necessarily mean detainees will be freed.

"Even if the facility shuts down, people are just going to be transferred to other facilities; that doesn't mean they're going to be released," Godshall said.

Godshall said it is difficult to track where detainees are being sent.

"The ICE detainee locator is often delayed if updated at all," Godshall said. "For people in ICE detention, it's hard for them to have meaningful access to an attorney and access to due process."

Godshall said many detainees are being sent to detention facilities in California City, California, and Fort Bliss, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State of Florida have not confirmed whether or when Alligator Alcatraz is closing.

"I have not been told that that's the case, but I do think it is in flux because (DHS is) trying to figure out what the appropriate footprint is," DeSantis said, noting that ICE has expanded its capacity elsewhere since Alligator Alcatraz opened last July.

"Daily operations at Alligator Alcatraz continue as usual," a DHS spokesperson told WPTV in a statement. "ICE makes custody determinations daily, on a case-by-case basis in accordance with U.S. law, and various factors to ensures their presence for immigration proceedings or removal from the United States. Despite a historic number of injunctions, DHS is working rapidly and overtime to remove these aliens from detentions centers to their final destination — home."

When Frost visited Alligator Alcatraz on Tuesday, he noted that the intake area was empty and the computers were unplugged. He also said an Alligator Alcatraz official told him it would take about 15 to 30 days to remove all the infrastructure after the last detainee leaves.

"I think ICE is still desperate for bed space for people, and so I'm not holding my breath that the facility is actually shutting down. I'm hopeful. I would love it to shut down," Godshall said. "But there's no guarantee that it is shutting down."

Read more of WPTV's coverage below: