'Alligator Alcatraz' inmates swarmed by bugs 'the size of hands'
The makeshift Florida Everglades migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" is already facing horrific problems, reported the Miami Herald on Tuesday — with the detainees bearing the brunt of most of it.
"While the state says the stories detainees are sharing with the Herald are false, various scenarios described by three women in separate interviews are matching up," said the report. "The women told the Herald that their husbands were unable to shower for several days after arriving. On Sunday, two women said their husbands complained that initially there was no water to flush toilets. All three detainees told their wives that the bugs were getting inside, one of them saying that grasshoppers the size of his hand were springing into the tent and that the biggest mosquitoes he had ever seen were flying over them in their cells."
Furthermore, detainees say the facility has no clocks and the tents block out light, making it hard for those inside them to tell whether it's night or day. And one Guatemalan detainee told his wife that the temperature regulation was out of whack, with the air conditioning making it too cold to sleep at one point, but then breaking down and exposing him to sweltering temperatures.
Florida state officials, who run the facility, have disputed the migrants' claims, insisting that “Bugs and environmental factors are minimized in the facility, restraints are only utilized during transport outside of the detention centers, and visitation arrangements can be made upon request. All plumbing systems are working and operational.”
State officials also claimed it was "fake news" that there had been a medical emergency on the premises after a local tribal member near the facility reported seeing an ambulance departing with its lights on, but Jennifer Guerrieri of HCA Florida confirmed a detainee had been transported by ambulance to Kendall Hospital in Miami for treatment.
"Alligator Alcatraz" was opened to enormous fanfare from Trump allies, and there was even merchandise advertising the facility sold. President Donald Trump is already considering the idea of using more facilities like this.
But even aside from the conditions detailed by detainees, experts are fearful that bad weather could put those in the facility in danger. Despite claims from Florida officials that the facility is "hurricane-proof," a rainstorm earlier this month saw water flood some of the tents and "all over electrical cables on the floor."