COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Families of detainees held at the migrant detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” are sharing details about their loved ones’ experiences.
The 63-year-old detainee, Rafael Collado, who hails from Cuba, shared details over the phone about what he describes as horrible conditions inside this state-run detention facility in the Everglades.
His wife, Sonia Vichara, fought back tears while speaking about what her husband is going through.
“He is telling me the officers are trying him, cursing, saying bad words, telling him to come back to where he came from,” she said. “Due to the water that came here a couple of weeks ago, he has fungus in his feet. This place is a cage. It is for dogs and they don’t deserve to be here. No matter what, they are human.”
Yaneisy Fernandez Silva says her 35-year-old son Rafael, who is from Cuba, has been transported to a South Florida hospital twice since being detained there, calling the medical services at the facility dangerously inadequate.
“Immediately after the surgery, he is back in here,” she said. “This is for animals, not for personas.”
She said on July 11 he was transferred to Kendall Regional Hospital for surgery of his hemorrhoids and that he was sent back to the facility the same day, but without adequate medicine or adequate care, so he developed a post-surgery infection.
Fernandez Silva said the on-site infirmary is insufficient and they basically just have aspirin.
On July 16, she said her son developed aggravated chest pains and others in detention started yelping for help, so he was transferred back to Kendall Regional.
Then, since the hospital told her son that they are not a recovery hospital, he was transferred back to the Everglades faciilty on July 20, where he was chained in the infirmary, referred to as “glorified tent,” she said.
Fernandez Silva lamented that they can’t build a defense case because their attorney is not allowed into the facility.
Said Tessa Petit, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition: “Equates to concentration camps of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. You have heard two families so far, we hear many families everyday. The detention conditions are unlivable, when you expose human beings to human waste in a hot environment, you propagate germs and therefore illnesses. When you keep people caged with no possibility to step outside, you impact their mental health. People in there have not been allowed to step outside those cages.
“Many, many testimonies we have heard (are) that in this heat the air conditioning is turned off for five hours a day,” she continued. “We are talking about exposing people to illnesses and even to their death. That is a human rights violation. They are first and foremost human beings and they have people who love them. This is a racist agenda. We are seeing history being repeated right here in South Florida.”
Several community groups, demonstrators and a physician called attention to what they describe as subpar standards of care.
“For those who chose to vote to support something like this and especially for those who it is now impacting their own families, we hope while you use your voice in this moment to push back on this, when it is your time to vote again, you choose to be on the right side of history,” said Valencia Gunder, co-director of the Smile Trust and deputy director of The Black Collective.
Added protestor Mike Park: “This is inhumane, these are human beings. Some of these people were people who were doing the right thing for the most part. What they have done is grab the easiest ones to get, which is people who are going to their court appointments, following the process.”
Said protestor Scott Evans: “This is evil, this is cruelty. My ancestors are Holocaust survivors and, to me, this is very personal.”
“This is a human rights violation, this is morally wrong,” said Dr. Anderson Henderson with the Dade County Street Response. “Mosquitoes transport diseases, Zika, Dengue, West Nile. These mosquito-borne illnesses are death sentences for individuals with chronic diseases. This is not right. As a medical professional, I am concerned. It is inhumane to force people to live in these conditions.
“The heat and the humidity around this place is going to exacerbate worsening medical conditions. (People are) going to be more likely to contract a stomach virus if they have diarrhea and not able to wash their hands, access to water as we were told, connected to the toilets, can have folks develop gastrointestinal issues that can spread to other people as well. All these things are a recipe for disaster and put a strain on the medical facilities that are in this area as well.”
Local 10 News reached out to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital for comment and to find out how many detainees it has treated. This was a spokesperson’s response:
“There is nothing I can share at this time. Thanks for understanding.”
Local 10 also reached out to the Florida Division of Emergency Management regarding the allegations made about the conditions inside the facility and received the following reply:
“As stated many times before, these claims are false. The facility is in good working order, and detainees have access to drinking water, showers, and clean facilities for hygiene.”
On Tuesday afternoon, supporters of Alligator Alcatraz arrived at the remote site to take smiley-faced selfies in front of the facility’s recently installed blue sign.
That includes Trump voter Leanna from Central Texas, visiting Florida to explore the Florida Keys.
“My brother is a number one Trump supporter so he needed a picture,” she said. “For the bad, bad criminals, I think it is good.”
When Local 10’s Christina Vazquez asked what about those who don’t have a criminal record beyond being undocumented, Leanna responded, “If they are not a criminal, I don’t totally agree with it.”
In May, Local 10 News interviewed Madison D. Sheahan, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director in Miramar, who said “If you are in the country illegally, you are a criminal.”
“I think that sounds like trespassing,” said Leanna when Vazquez shared the quote. “To me, the criminal is the murders, the rapes, the drug smuggling and all of that.”
Also taking gleeful photos of the Alligator Alcatraz sign was Margie Gaffaney of California, who is in the state visiting her sister Johnnie Braley.
“To get to America and being an American, you need to come the legal way, and so the process of what is happening in the United States is wrong that we are supporting to illegally come here when we can’t support our own, veterans and the homeless,” said Gaffaney. “So I am totally in support of ICE and Trump. We just needed to come see it.
Vazquez also asked for their thoughts on those being detained without a prior criminal record.
“Well, there is a way to come into our country legal and maybe they need to try and that instead of coming over the border because once again, they are giving them everything we deserve, we are working our butts off getting nothing,” said Braley.
Department of Homeland Security on facility finance:
“Total cost is approximately $450 million for one year. This expense will be incurred by the State of Florida, and they will submit reimbursement requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security. FEMA has roughly $625 million in Shelter and Services Program funds that can be allocated for this effort.”
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