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A Florida state senator is lamenting his recent visit to Alligator Alcatraz, a holding facility for illegal immigrants in Florida.
“We saw men sweating, head wraps around their heads, individuals climbing on the gate like wanting to get out, and chanting ‘liberta, liberta, liberta,’ liberty, freedom,” Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones, who joined “The Joy Reid Show,” said in an episode published Wednesday.
“But they said that those individuals were unsafe,” Jones said.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER CHALLENGES DEMOCRATS’ CHARACTERIZATION OF ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ AFTER TOURING FACILITY
President Donald Trump during a tour of the migrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” on July 1, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (AFP via Getty)
Jones told Reid that he recently visited the migrant detention facility that opened at the beginning of July in the Florida Everglades.
On July 1, President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Florida for a tour of “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“They said that this site is supposed to be where the worst of the worst come, i.e. because of the name Alcatraz,” Jones said.
“But Joy, the wristbands were yellow, orange, and red, with yellow being civil infractions,” he said. “Individuals who got pulled over for suspended licenses. Those were individuals who were in cages. Thirty-two men to a cage. And they fed them a turkey sandwich, some chips, and an apple. That is what we saw.”
DEM LAWMAKERS TO INSPECT ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ DETENTION CENTER, CITING SAFETY CONCERNS
On July 1, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Florida for the opening of “Alligator Alcatraz.” (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The detention center is located on the site of a former airport and is said to be able to accommodate 5,000 illegal immigrants, with the president working to act on campaign promises to remove illegal immigrants from the country.
But Jones said the conditions were inhumane.
“We saw men sitting on a bench, shackled by their hands, around their waist, and around their ankles,” Jones said. “And they sat there as they were going through the intake process. In that, what we saw, even asking to see the medical facilities as they walked us through what is happening inside. Well, they gave us a sanitized tour. They walked us and told us that we can’t see the medical facilities because it goes against HIPPA.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for comment.
An aerial view of a migrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is seen located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida on July 7, 2025. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
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