A prominent Democratic state representative in Florida is alleging that private contracts to build and maintain the controversial immigrant detention facility in the Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz" vanished from the online Florida Accountability Contract Tracking System just a day after she accessed them, reported the Miami New Times.
"It seems that the DeSantis administration just pulled more than a dozen contracts tied to the Everglades Immigration Detention facility from a public database of state contracts," wrote Anna Eskamani, now running for mayor of Orlando, in a post on X. "These contracts total more than $200 million in taxpayer spending, and they are public records."
"According to Eskamani, other contractors whose contract documents are no longer in the database include Gothams LLC, Garner Environmental Services, SLSCO LTD, Lemoine CDR Logistics LLC, CDR Health Care Inc., and Meridian Rapid Defense Group," noted the report. The Florida government" paid Miami-based CDR Health, an affiliate company of FIU Board of Trustees Chair Carlos Duart's CDR Companies, $17.5 million. His wife, Tina Vidal-Duart, is the CEO of a healthcare consulting firm."
Alligator Alcatraz was billed by Florida state officials as a facility for the "worst of the worst," but recent reporting indicates that it has been filled largely by highway patrol pulling people over for minor issues and uncovering their immigration status.
Already, horror stories are emerging of the conditions within the camp, including wild temperature swings, flooding, and infestations of giant insects.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed the construction of this facility and indicated his desire to build more of them, but this week appeared to backtrack on that idea.
