07/15/2025

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detainees Report Worms in Food and Wastewater on the Floor

The facility began accepting detainees July 2

At the brand-new Everglades immigration detention center that Trump officials have dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," people held there are worms in the food. Toilets don't flush, flooding floors with fecal waste and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.

Inside the compound's large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link cages. Detainees are said to go days without showering or getting prescription medicine; they also are only able to speak by phone to lawyers and loved ones. At times, the air conditioners abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat.

Days after President Donald Trump toured it, attorneys, advocates, detainees and their relatives are speaking out about the makeshift facility, which Republican Governor Ron DeSantis' administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. Detainees began arriving July 2.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Associated Press.