COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — For the first time since it began holding migrants, Fox 4 was granted limited access to Florida's largest migrant detention facility — known as "Alligator Alcatraz."
Joined by top state officials, including Florida's emergency management director, agriculture commissioner, and immigration enforcement chief, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that deportation flights are now underway.
WATCH AS GOVERNOR DESANTIS GIVES AN UPDATE ON DEPORTATIONS AT ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ:
DeSantis invited Fox 4 and other outlets for a tightly controlled visit as questions mount over the treatment of migrants being held for deportation.
On Friday morning, Fox 4 Community Correspondent Mahmoud Bennett passed through three layers of security before boarding a bus to the airstrip inside the facility. Just a few hundred feet away, rows of barbed wire fencing enclosed the detention zone.
Emergency management officials did not allow reporters to enter that area or see any of the detainees.
SEE THE PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW:
“The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal,” said DeSantis during a press conference at the site.
“We’ve already had a number of flights in the last few days. We’ve had hundreds of illegals removed from here,” he added.
But the facility has drawn fierce backlash, with a growing coalition of families and advocates comparing it to a concentration camp during a Tuesday protest.
“This place is a cage — it’s for dogs. They don’t deserve to be here, no matter what. They’re human,” said Sonia Bishara, whose 63-year-old husband was recently transferred to the facility.
State officials are pushing back against allegations of mistreatment. Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie called the claims of inadequate medical care false.
“We can deal with trauma on site. We have four paramedics on duty at all times, working with medical staff,” Guthrie said. “So again, all of that is false — every single bit of it," he added.
WHAT'S AROUND THE CAMP: TREKKING THROUGH THE SWAP:
DeSantis says the facility will continue to grow, with plans to hold more migrants and ramp up deportations in the coming weeks.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management said the site has the capacity for 2,000 detainees but will eventually hold 4,000.
“This is making a difference. This is just the opening stage,” DeSantis said. “You’re going to really see this ramp up," he added.
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