ORLANDO, FL — State Representative Dr. Anna V. Eskamani (D-Orlando) released the following statement today in response to widespread reporting that federal and state officials are in active discussions to close the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility in the Everglades:
“I welcome this news. But let me be clear: this place never should have been open in the first place. From day one, the so-called Alligator Alcatraz has been an expensive political stunt — built in eight days, on emergency executive power, in the middle of one of the most environmentally sensitive ecosystems in America, through no-bid contracts, and at a cost that ballooned to more than $1 million a day and nearly $1 billion in total taxpayer dollars.
It has been unsafe. It has been environmentally destructive. It has operated without meaningful due process for the people held inside. It has generated credible reports of human rights violations. And it has been paid for, every single day, with your tax dollars. This was never about public safety. It was never about the rule of law. It was about a photo-op. And now, only after the costs became politically inconvenient, those same officials who championed this facility are quietly walking away from it.
Alligator Alcatraz is, and will forever be, a stain on our state’s and our nation’s history. No amount of spin will erase what happened there or who is responsible for it. I am grateful to every advocate, attorney, faith leader, journalist, and constituent who refused to let this facility be normalized. Your voices made closure possible.
But closure is not the end of this fight. We need:
- Full transparency on what happened inside Alligator Alcatraz — including conditions, medical care, and the treatment of detainees
- A full accounting of how every taxpayer dollar was spent, including the no-bid contracts and the vendors who profited
- Independent oversight of any remaining or future immigration detention in Florida
- Legislative guardrails so that no governor — of any party — can ever again use emergency power to stand up a billion-dollar detention site overnight, outside the bounds of normal procurement, environmental review, and human rights protections
- Safety for every detainee and clear access to due process.
We will continue to do everything we can to shut this facility down for good — and to make sure nothing like it is ever built in our state again.”
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