Miami archbishop slams Everglades migrant detention site known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ as ‘unbecoming’ and ‘corrosive’
The Archdiocese of Miami condemns a controversial migrant detention center in Florida – which state officials have appointed “Alligator Alcatraz” – describing it as “inconvenience of civil servants” and “corrosive of the common good”.
In a strongly written declaration published on the Archdiocese website, Archbishop Thomas Wenski criticized the two conditions on the remote detention site in the Everglades and the rhetoric that surrounds it.
He wrote: “It is improper civil servants and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrent value of” alligators and pythons “to the installation of a necklace.”
Wenski’s declaration has also highlighted humanitarian concerns, noting the isolation of the establishment of medical care and the vulnerability of temporary tent structures with summer weather conditions and Hurricane of Florida. He also called chaplains and ministers to obtain access to serve people in detention.
Meanwhile, a group of democratic state legislators filed a complaint against the state after being denied entry to the site last week. The complaint argues that they are legally entitled to “immediate and unexpected access” to the establishment.
“We are not looking for a disinfected excursion,” said state senator Shevrin Jones, a democrat. “If [the allegations are] False, prove it. Show it.
NBC6 reported on the allegations of prisoners and family members of “inhuman conditions”: limited access to showers, spoiled food, extreme heat and mosquito infestations. The state has categorically denied these claims.
The legislators were then invited to a planned guided tour of 90 minutes from the establishment – but some say that it is not enough to ensure transparency.
The president of the Danny Perez room, a republican, defended the establishment, declaring: “It is not a five -star hotel and it should not be a five -star seaside resort. It is a detention center that holds criminals. ”
The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, also asked for access to the site. Her office said she was still waiting for an answer, stressing that the property is located on the county lands.
The legal battle and the public outcry add a new emergency to the debate on the application of immigration to Florida and the use of isolated and strongly guarded detention sites.
