MIAMI — A federal judge in Miami will continue to hear arguments Monday over whether detainees at Florida’s temporary immigrant detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz have been denied their legal rights.
Protesters gathered outside Alligator Alcatraz on Sunday, expressing their frustration with Gov. Ron DeSantis for allowing the detention center to be constructed.
“This facility needs to be shut down. It’s unjust. You know, our governor is harming our people,” Rev. Andy Oliver, of Allendale United Methodist Church Tampa, said.
People of different faiths recited prayers outside the facility, demanding the detainees being held there be treated humanely.
Eunice Cho, the senior counsel with the ACLU National Prison Project, is the lead attorney in a federal lawsuit calling for detainees to receive due process.
She spoke with Local 10’s Glenna Milberg on “This Week in South Florida.”
“We are hearing stories of officers who are going around the facility, pressuring people to sign voluntary removal orders without being able to speak to counsel,” she said. “We heard a case of an intellectually disabled man being presented with a paper, and he was told he should sign the paper to get a blanket, and it turned out to be a voluntarily departure form, and he was deported very soon after.”
“Are the stories you are hearing firsthand? Do you hear this from attorneys? How are you hearing this information?” Milberg asked.
“Well, we are hearing this from attorneys who have spoken to their clients and who have submitted sworn declarations under penalty of perjury to the court, with respect to these stories,” Cho said.
Monday’s hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
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