Vigil held for 18-year-old woman killed in 2024 North Lauderdale shooting

A group of Democratic lawmakers on Saturday condemned a detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed by agents as Alligator Alcatraz after visiting the site Prior to their tour lawmaker commented it would be staged and sanitized by the Florida Division of Crisis Management and federal executives The tour came after particular Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the -bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland So multiple state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups to view the facility There are really disturbing vile conditions and this place demands to be shut the hell down Rep U S Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz a Democrat from Florida advised reporters after visiting This place is a stunt and they re abusing human beings here Cage-style units of men share three combination toilet-sink devices the visitors measured the temperature at degrees degrees Celsius in one area that was billed as air-conditioned and grasshoppers and other insects abound she and other Democrats mentioned Although the visitors announced they weren t able to speak with the detainees Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost a Democrat from Florida disclosed one called out I m an American and others chanting Libertad a Spanish word for freedom State Sen Blaise Ingoglia a Republican from Florida countered that he had seen a well-run safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well He recalled that a handful of detainees became a little raucous when the visitors appeared but disclosed he didn t make out what they were saying The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality he commented by phone It s a detention center not the Four Seasons Journalists weren t allowed on the tour and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Urgency Management which built the facility and to representatives for Gov Ron DeSantis DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia s upbeat readouts on social media DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center an agglomeration of tents trailers and temporary buildings constructed in a matter of days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump s call for mass deportations The first detainees arrived July after Trump toured and praised the facility Described as temporary the detention center is meant to help the Republican president s administration reach its goal of boosting the United States migrant detention limit from people to at least The Florida facility s remote location and its name a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration Ahead of the facility s opening state functionaries disclosed detainees would have access to biological care consistent air conditioning a recreation yard attorneys and clergy members But detainees and their relatives and advocates have advised The Associated Press that conditions are awful with worm-infested food toilets overflowing onto floors mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat One man stated his wife that detainees go days without getting showers Florida Division of Crisis Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions absolutely false saying detainees invariably get three meals a day unlimited drinking water showers and other necessities The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order she revealed Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site when it opened July but reported they were denied access The state subsequently arranged Saturday s tour The lawmakers have sued over the denial saying that DeSantis administration is impeding lawmakers oversight authority A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit dumb As Democratic leaders headed into the facility they reported they expected to be given a sanitized and limited view Wasserman Schultz described reporters the lawmakers came anyway because they longed to ask questions and get a sense of the structure and conditions In the meantime the Miami-Dade Young Democrats are calling out members of their party and are demanding that they take action and close the facility In a new Gallup poll agree with how President Donald Trump is handling immigration while disapprove Among party lines of Republicans and of Independents approve of how Trump is tackling the immigration issue while of Democrats disapprove Gov DeSantis has touted Alligator Alcatraz as a model for other states to follow Democratic lawmakers revealed they will plan an unannounced visit to the detention center at a future date