Alligator Atrocity

An American concentration camp became operational last week, and it’s already a human rights nightmare.

We were expecting reports like this, and it’s now been confirmed: Everything about Florida’s new immigrant concentration camp is horrifying.

Its proponents call it “Alligator Alcatraz,” while its critics say it’s more like “Alligator Auschwitz.” Whatever name it goes by, the hastily constructed detention center in the Florida Everglades is already drawing intense fire from two separate media reports.

These reports, which came out yesterday, did not get the attention they deserved, so I am amplifying them here. I ask you not to look away, difficult as it is to digest what is happening, and instead face these hard facts squarely. Then I ask, especially if you live in Florida, that you call your state and federal representatives and demand they conduct oversight of the camp.

The CBS report

Anna McAllister of CBS News reported on the inhumane conditions for immigrants now held inside fenced cages in the camp. She spoke directly with Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura, who was arrested on assault charges. Rather than be kept in a correctional facility, La Figura was transferred to the camp, presumably to await deportation. He has been there since Friday.

“There’s over 400 people here. There’s no water to take a bath, it’s been four days since I’ve taken a bath,” La Figura said. “They only brought a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants.”

“They’re not respecting our human rights,” another man McAllister spoke with said on the same phone call. “We’re human beings; we’re not dogs. We’re like rats in an experiment. I don’t know their motive for doing this, if it’s a form of torture. A lot of us have our residency documents and we don’t understand why we’re here,” he added.

A third detainee highlighted the lack of medical care. “I’m on the edge of losing my mind. I’ve gone three days without taking my medicine,” he said. “It’s impossible to sleep with this white light that’s on all day.”

He also said his religious rights were denied. “They took the Bible I had and they said here there is no right to religion. And my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith, and now I’m losing my faith,” he said.

The Miami Herald Report

Ana Ceballos, Alex Harris and Claire Healy of the Miami Herald separately confirmed the terrible conditions at the camp: toilets that didn’t flush, temperatures from freezing to sweltering, giant mosquitoes, little or no access to bathing facilities, and no confidential calls with attorneys.

This was based on separate interviews the Herald conducted with the wives of detainees from Guatemala and Venezuela.

“Why would we treat a human like that?” asked one woman whose husband was being held inside. “They come here for a better life. I don’t understand. We are supposed to be the greatest nation under God, but we forget that we’re under God.”

The accounts of the interviewees, which were conducted independently, confirm much of the accounts of the detainees obtained by CBS News:

The women told the Herald that their husbands were unable to shower for several days after arriving. On Sunday, two women said their husbands complained that initially there was no water to flush toilets. All three detainees told their wives that the bugs were getting inside, one of them saying that grasshoppers the size of his hand were springing into the tent and that the biggest mosquitoes he had ever seen were flying over them in their cells.

The temperature variance inside the camp has been of extreme concern, given its location in the Florida swamps. Again, the Herald’s reporting supports what CBS learned:

A Guatemalan detainee told his wife that he was unable to sleep on Monday night due to how cold it was inside the tent. By Tuesday afternoon, the same man told his wife that it appeared the air-conditioner had stopped working and that it was really hot inside, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by the Herald. His wife told the Herald he was detained while he was a passenger during a traffic stop with Florida Highway Patrol.

The Venezuelan man’s wife heard the same thing on Tuesday afternoon. Her husband said the “air is hot” inside the tent. She said he sounded out of breath.

Attorneys have been unable to reach their clients. For example, as the Herald reported,

Katie Blankenship, an attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South, a legal services network, said Tuesday she has been unable to get in touch with a new client whose wife called last week, saying her husband was being transferred to Alligator Alcatraz from the Krome immigration detention center in Miami-Dade County.

Blankenship doesn’t have a number to call him at the facility. His name isn’t showing up in an online website kept by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has asked ICE officials to confirm his whereabouts, but she said her emails have gone unanswered and the wife hasn’t heard from her husband since he was transferred.

“I think it’s a gross, gross violation of due process to put people literally in this black hole where they cannot be found,” Blankenship said. “They cannot speak with counsel, they cannot contact immigration court. They are just for all intents and purposes, disappeared.”

There was also an apparent incident where a detainee was hospitalized due to a medical emergency. A witness outside the camp saw an ambulance head toward Miami then later return to the camp. And HCA Florida, which operates hospitals in the state, confirmed a detainee from “Alligator Alcatraz” had arrived at Kendall Hospital on Monday.

Official denials and restricted access

The official response to allegations of inhumane conditions in the camp has been to deny them.

“Bugs and environmental factors are minimized in the facility, restraints are only utilized during transport outside of the detention centers, and visitation arrangements can be made upon request,” said Stephanie Hartman of Florida’s state Division of Emergency Management. That’s the state agency currently overseeing the facility. “All plumbing systems are working and operational,” she added.

But the state’s record on telling the truth around the camps is already in serious question. For example, the first reaction of state officials to the charge that there was an emergency requiring a hospital visit was to deny this had even occurred. “Fake news,” said a spokesperson for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to the Herald. Only after the report was published did DHS acknowledge that, yes, a detainee had been taken to the hospital, but a department spokesperson claimed he wasn’t admitted and was returned to the camp after 90 minutes.

Further, and alarmingly, the state is not permitting the press or state Democratic officials visit the site for inspections. As the Herald noted,

Since inviting some members of the press to tour the site prior to the arrival of the first detainees, the state has blocked [State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando)] and other lawmakers from entering [and] ignored the Herald’s request to visit the site….

Indeed, several Florida legislators attempted to visit the concentration camp on July 3 but were denied access because of “safety concerns.” But if there are in fact safety concerns for those attempting to conduct oversight, aren’t there the same concerns for those actually held there?

A test of our limits, and our courage

As it was with the CECOT maximum security prison in El Salvador—where immigrants with no connection to criminal gang activity nor any criminal record whatsoever were sent without so much as a hearing—the Everglades concentration camp is a test. It’s a test of the limits of our laws. It’s a test of the tolerance of our nation to abuses and atrocities now being committed against our most vulnerable populations.

I spent the better part of the 2010s developing, then telling the story of the Japanese American internment, which actor and activist George Takei personally experienced when he was five years old. Together we created the Broadway show Allegiance to keep the memory of that period alive.

It was admittedly difficult to get U.S. audiences to pay attention to and care about something that happened 70 years ago, especially something so painful and horrific as the internment. Many simply did not want to attend a performance that might make them feel guilty or bad about what their country had done. But we persisted, because, as George says whenever he can, we are not doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past if we can learn from them.

Like the people held now in the Everglades, George and his family were sent to a camp in the fetid swamps of Arkansas. Rohwer concentration camp was without running water, it was overrun with pests, and the internees lacked adequate sanitation or food. Over 120,000 people, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were held prisoner across 10 Japanese American internment camps for years because of their status as persons of Japanese descent.

In Allegiance, we thought we were telling a story about a dark chapter of U.S. history. But it is now clear we were also delivering a warning about the future. A new era of U.S. concentration camps is now upon us. It is our tax dollars paying for them. It is our officials who are overseeing them. It is our government sending human beings to them, many of whom, like George, will receive no due process and could languish in legal limbo for years.

But I want to offer hope and a reason for courage. Unlike the World War II era, when Americans fairly uniformly turned their eyes away and did not speak out against what was happening, today we have the benefit of history and its lessons. We have a chance to stop this and to change our timeline. Our fate is not inevitable. We can speak out, protest, and insist on transparency and on justice.

Start by letting people know what is happening. Most Americans remain blithely unaware. Share this piece with your networks.

Then put pressure on our representatives. Call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and demand they conduct oversight on the camp.

If you’re in Florida, contact your state officials at FLHouse.gov and FLSenate.gov.

We are not powerless in the face of fascism. We are the reason it can and will fail, if we stay true to our values, participate instead of turn away, and speak up whenever we can.

Thank you. — Jay