MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — After six months of uncertainty, tears and relentless advocacy from his family, Justo Bentacourt is finally home.
The emotional reunion unfolded early Thursday morning in southwest Miami-Dade, where Bentacourt embraced his family for the first time since the father of three was detained during a routine immigration check-in late last year and sent to the controversial detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“I knew one day I’d get out,” Bentacourt said shortly after his release.
Arianne Bentacourt had vowed from the beginning not to stop fighting for her father’s freedom. Local 10 first met her outside the detention center in November, where she made it clear she would do everything possible to bring him home.
“I’m not giving up,” she said at the time. “I’ve always said I’m the kind of person — if I say I’m going to do something, I’ll get it done.”
Now, six months later, that determination appears to have paid off.
“You just hugged your dad for the first time in six months,” Local 10’s Magdala Louissaint told Arianne during the reunion.
“I’m proud of myself, and I’m happy to have him home,” she replied.
Bentacourt described difficult and traumatic conditions inside the Everglades detention center.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “The animals don’t stay like how people stay over there. Every single day you have to work for your life.”
According to the family and their attorney, a judge recently agreed Bentacourt had been detained for too long, clearing the way for his release.
Still, Bentacourt said his freedom is bittersweet because many others remain behind.
“I leave a lot of people inside,” he said. “An old man, 80 years old — people wish they were here. It’s crazy.”
When asked what message he had for families with loved ones still detained at Alligator Alcatraz, Bentacourt urged them not to give up, “try to do the right thing” and follow “your habeas corpus.”
Bentacourt’s release comes as questions continue to swirl around the future of the controversial detention center. A recent report by The New York Times claimed the facility could shut down in June, though neither Gov. Ron DeSantis nor the Trump administration has confirmed those reports.
However, vendors told Local 10 they have been informed operations at the facility are expected to end by June 1.
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