Federal detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades. PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

By David L. Snelling

Miami – The immigrants who were deported from a notorious federal detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades had legal status to stay in the U.S.

As deportation flights have begun and lawsuits filed challenging the legality of the makeshift facility, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, defending ICE arrests of 3,000 immigrants, some with no criminal records, in the state, acknowledged that most of the 100 immigrants who were hauled off last month were mistakenly deported.

The 100 immigrants were on board the first flight for deportation, but their destinations were unknown.

“Is it possible… that a removal order, even though you went through due process… was wrong? These are human institutions,” DeSantis said during a press conference.

DeSantis then compared wrongful deportation to wrongful criminal convictions, and admitted “it happens.”

Despite the mistake, DeSantis said more flights are coming soon.

“I think you’re going to see the numbers go up dramatically,” DeSantis said The governor’s admission is the latest controversy over the detention center which was designed to detain hardened criminals and psychopaths for deportation.

But reports suggest hundreds of the immigrants were not violent offenders or don’t even have criminal records.

The pop-up facility is also raising concerns over immigrants being denied legal access, a violation of their constitutional rights, and exposed to inhumane conditions.

The state-run center which houses immigration in tents and cages is located on an old air strip at Miami-Dade Collier Training and Transition Airport, which is a 39-square mile facility with a 10,500-foot runway.

According to Newsweek, among the 750 detainees, about 250 of them don’t have a criminal background while 260 face pending charges and 240 have criminal convictions.

Some violent offenders are detained at Alligator Alcatraz who were convicted of murder, attempted murder, rape and child sex charges.

But immigration officials came under fire for detaining a 15-year-old boy from Cuba despite not having any criminal charges.

Following his release, his family is still demanding answers on how he ended up in detention with violent criminals.

“He could’ve been hurt,” the boys’ aunt told reporters. “We still haven’t gotten an explanation.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told reporters that the absence of a U.S. criminal record is irrelevant because she said many migrants in the U.S. illegally face charges of crimes including rape, assault and terrorism in their native countries or other countries.

Jackson said each migrant committed a crime by entering illegally, although at least two people in the reports so far entered through legal pathways.

“The Trump Administration will continue carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history by removing public safety threats from American communities,” Jackson said.

Alligator Alcatraz is at the center of a series of lawsuits including immigrants allegedly being denied access to legal representation to challenge their pending deportation.

The ACLU, ACLU of Florida, Americans for Immigrant Justice and the U.S. Immigration Law Counsel have filed a federal lawsuit against the federal and state governments, arguing that immigrants are being denied their day in court.

The attorneys claimed that immigration court and bond hearings have been canceled because it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, and immigrants are being detained without any charges.

The attorneys said they have been frustrated in their attempts to meet with clients on site and their clients have been thwarted in their attempts to file motions that could lead to their release from the center.

The attorneys demanded that federal and state officials identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detainees so it can start accepting petitions for bond.

The case went before U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, an appointee of President Donald Trump, who asked attorneys to refile their complaint to consolidate their pleadings as a request for a preliminary injunction.

He set a briefing schedule that will end with an in-person court hearing on Aug. 18.

Environmental advocates are also going after the DeSantis and Trump administrations over Alligator Alcatraz in court.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their lawsuit in federal court, arguing the facility infringes on their efforts to preserve the sensitive wetland areas and endangered species.

Alligator Alcatraz borders Big Cypress National Preserve, which conserves over 729,000 acres of swamp containing a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to diverse wildlife.

“The site is more than 96 percent wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species,” Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades said in a statement. “Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 to stop harmful development at this very location. Fifty-six years later, the threat has returned, and it poses another existential threat to the Everglades.”

In addition, the Miccosukee Indian tribe, which owns land near Alligator Alcatraz, was allowed to join the lawsuit, arguing immigration officials failed to comply with a federal law in which an impact study is required before building on sensitive environmental land.

At a press conference in Boca Raton last month, DeSantis dismissed any concerns about the ecosystem in the Everglades.

The center is drawing furor as dozens of protestors including state lawmakers and medical experts are calling for the end of the facility.

Immigrants are allegedly being exposed to deplorable conditions, sparking outrage.

The families of detainees described inhumane conditions at the facility such as abuse, overcrowding, soiled toilet water over running and lack of food and access to health care.

Immigrants also claimed they weren’t allowed to shower for days and recently have waged a hunger strike to protest the poor conditions.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, who toured the facility on July 12 with fellow U.S. Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Darren Soto, condemned Alligator Alcatraz.

She said she is sponsoring the No Cages in the Everglades Act which, if passed, bans the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, from contracting with, funding or operating any immigration detention facility near the Everglades.

Wasserman Schultz also called for congressional right to inspect any facility holding federal immigrants regardless of whether it is owned or operated by the federal government, a state, or a private contractor.

Wasserman Schultz said up to 32 detainees were placed in each cage, with little to no privacy for showering or using the restroom, and poor food quality.

She also said the plumbing was bad.

“Water comes from a combined toilet/sink,” she said. “There are no working pipes or plumbing, instead water and waste is trucked in and out of the facility.”

She said one detainee has been denied access to medical care for four days from drinking bleach-contaminated water.

“Bottom line: this place needs to be shut down,” Wasserman Schultz said.