Tag Archives: Ron DeSantis

LA Times: Contributor: Alligator Alcatraz, the concentration camp in Florida, is a national disgrace

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The first detainees have started arriving at Alligator Alcatraz, Florida’s immigrant detention center in the Everglades. The facility went up on a former airstrip in eight days and will have an initial capacity of 3,000 detainees. Florida’s Republican state Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier, the driving force behind the project, posted on X recently that the center “will be checking in hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight. Next stop: back to where they came from.”

Alligator Alcatraz — the camp’s official name — raises logistical, legal and humanitarian concerns. It appears intentionally designed to inflict suffering on detainees, and to allow Florida politicians to exploit migrant pain for political gain. Some of the first people held there have already reported inhumane conditions.

“Alligator Alcatraz” is a misnomer. Alcatraz was home to dangerous criminals, including Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. These were violent offenders who had been tried and convicted and sent to the forbidding island fortress.

In contrast, we don’t know whether detainees sent to Alligator Alcatraz will have had their day in court. We don’t know whether they will receive due process in immigration courts or be charged with a crime. We do know that the majority of people whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting have no criminal records. Remember, simply being in the U.S. without authorization is not a crime — it is a civil infraction. And the ranks of the undocumented include many people who once had lawful status, such as people who overstayed their visas and people with temporary protected status and other forms of humanitarian relief that the current administration has rescinded. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research center, reports that 71% of immigrant detainees have no criminal record.

In Florida, ICE has arrested an evangelical pastor, a mother of a newborn and a U.S. citizen. These are the kinds of people who might end up spending time in Alligator Alcatraz. In fact, Florida state documents show that detainees there could include women, children and the elderly.

Alligator Alcatraz will place detainees in life-threatening conditions. The site consists of heavy-duty tents and mobile units, in a location known for intense humidity and sweltering heat. Tropical storms, hurricanes and floods pass through the area regularly. On a day when the president visited, there was light rain and parts of the facility flooded. This is not a safe place for the support staff who will be working there, nor is it for detainees.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has praised the “natural” security at Alligator Alcatraz as “amazing.” When asked if the idea was for detainees to get eaten by alligators if they try to escape, President Trump replied, “I guess that’s the concept.” However, escapes from immigration detention are rare. The June escape by four men from a New Jersey detention center made headlines, in part because it was such an unusual occurrence (three of the escaped detainees are back in custody). So the construction of a detention center with a “moat” of forbidding wildlife is just performative cruelty.

Consider the gleeful ways that Florida Republicans have promoted Alligator Alcatraz. The state GOP is selling branded merchandise online, such as hats and T-shirts. On his website, the attorney general is hawking his own products, including Alligator Alcatraz buttons and bumper stickers. But immigration detention is a serious matter. It should not be treated like a cheap spectacle, with souvenirs available for purchase.

Immigrant advocacy groups are rightfully alarmed by Alligator Alcatraz. They’re not the only ones: Environmental groups have protested its impact on the surrounding ecosystem, while Indigenous tribes are angry because the camp sits near lands that are sacred to them. The author of a global history of concentration camps has concluded that Alligator Alcatraz meets the criterion for such a label.

The most troubling aspect of Alligator Alcatraz is that it may be a harbinger of things to come. The budget legislation that the president signed into law on July 4 allocates $45 billion for immigration detention over the next four years. Other states may follow Florida’s example and set up detention centers in punishing locales. This will likely happen with little oversight, as the administration has closed the offices that monitored abuse and neglect in detention facilities.

Yes, Homeland Security and ICE are mandated by law to arrest people who are in the country without authorization and to detain them pending removal. That is true no matter who is president. Yet Alligator Alcatraz is a state project, outside the normal scope of federal government accountability. On Thursday, state lawmakers who sought to inspect the facility were denied entry.

In embracing Alligator Alcatraz, the administration is testing the limits of public support for the president’s immigration agenda. According to a June Quinnipiac survey, 57% of voters disapprove of the president’s handling of immigration. A more recent YouGov poll found that Alligator Alcatraz is likewise unpopular with a plurality of Americans.

Alligator Alcatraz is not a joke. It is a dehumanizing political stunt that puts immigrant detainees at genuine risk of harm or death.

Contributor: Alligator Alcatraz, the concentration camp in Florida, is a national disgrace
The camp appears designed to inflict suffering on detainees and to allow Florida politicians to exploit migrant pain for political gain.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-07-14/alligator-alcatraz-florida-immigration-detention

Charlotte Observer: Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

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Border Czar Tom Homan expressed concern over the growing dangers ICE officials face following an incident in which a Texas police officer was shot near a detention facility. Homan noted that rising attacks, including vandalism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, have come amid increasing threats to federal agents. Homan urged politicians to tone down their rhetoric against the agency.

…

Just get your masked Gestapo thugs off our streets and keep them off!!!

Officer Shot Near Detention Center — Border Czar Responds

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/officer-shot-near-detention-center-border-czar-responds/ss-AA1IxjXz

Associated Press: The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida wants to join a federal lawsuit against ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

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The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is seeking to join a federal lawsuit aimed at halting the construction and operation of a new immigration detention facility in the Everglades, which tribal members consider their sacred ancestral homelands.

Miccosukee leaders had already condemned the makeshift compound of trailers and tents that rose out of the swamp in a matter of days. But the filing Monday of a motion to intervene in the case initially brought by environmental groups signals a new level of opposition by the tribe, which is also a major political donor in the state.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration rapidly built the facility, which state officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” on an isolated, county-owned airstrip inside the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami.

The Miccosukee have lived on and cared for the lands of Big Cypress “since time immemorial,” the filing reads, noting that the tribe played an integral role in pushing for the creation of the national preserve, the country’s first.

“The area now known as the Preserve is a core piece of the Tribe’s homeland. Today, all of the Tribe’s active ceremonial sites and a significant majority of the Tribe’s traditional villages (sometimes known as “clan camps”) are within the Preserve,” the filing reads.

To DeSantis and other state officials, locating the facility in the rugged and remote Everglades is meant as a deterrent, a national model for how to get immigrants to “self-deport.” The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility’s name. Officials have touted the harshness of the area, saying there’s “not much” there other than the wildlife who call it home.

In fact, the Miccosukee have lived on those lands for centuries, the tribe’s attorneys wrote in their motion, which notes that there are 10 tribal villages within a three-mile (4.8-kilometer) radius of the detention center, one of which is approximately 1,000 feet (304 meters) from the facility.

The preserve is a place where tribal members continue to hunt, trap and fish, as well as catch the school bus, hold sacred rituals and bury their loved ones.

“The facility’s proximity to the Tribe’s villages, sacred and ceremonial sites, traditional hunting grounds, and other lands protected by the Tribe raises significant concerns about environmental degradation and potential impacts,” the filing reads.

The lawsuit originally filed by the Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity seeks to halt the project until it undergoes a stringent environmental review as required by federal and state law. There is also supposed to be a chance for public comment, the plaintiffs argue.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the judge in the case had not acted on the groups’ requests for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop activity at the site.

The state raced to build the facility at the isolated airfield before the first detainees arrived on July 3. Streams of trucks carrying supplies like portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials drove into the facility’s gates around the clock as workers assembled a network of massive tents that officials said could ultimately house 5,000 detainees.

What had been an internationally designated “dark sky” park far away from urban development is now blasted by lights so powerful, the glow can be see from 15 miles (24.1 kilometers) away, the environmental groups said.

The area’s hunting and fishing stocks could be so significantly impacted, attorneys argue the tribe’s traditional rights — guaranteed by federal and state law — could be “rendered meaningless.”

The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida wants to join a federal lawsuit against ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is seeking to join a federal lawsuit aimed at halting the construction and operation of a new immigration detention facility in the Everglades, which tribal members consider their sacred ancestral homelands.

https://apnews.com/article/alligator-alcatraz-lawsuit-miccosukee-tribe-florida-immigration-164069ac7e4cddc1f7278b218b9cf8f7

CNN: Florida lawmakers allowed into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ say detainees packed into cages

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Deep in the hazardous and ecologically fragile Everglades, hundreds of migrants are confined in cages in a makeshift tent detention facility Florida’s Republican governor calls “safe and secure” and Democratic lawmakers call “inhumane.”

Two days after filing a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being “unlawfully denied entry” to inspect conditions at the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” members of Congress and state representatives were given a limited tour Saturday to inspect conditions after calling the lack of access a “deliberate obstruction meant to hide what’s really happening behind those gates,” according to a joint statement from lawmakers.

They said they heard detainees shouting for help and crying out “libertad”— Spanish for “freedom” — amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals.

“They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida’s 25th Congressional District, said during a news conference following their tour.

The families of some of the detainees have also decried conditions in the facility, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials defend it as offering higher detention standards than many US prisons.

Lawmakers Shown Empty Cells

On the tour, the lawmakers said they were not allowed to visit areas where migrants are currently being detained but instead were shown cells not yet being used.

Wasserman Schultz said each cage contained three small toilets with attached sinks, which detainees use for drinking water and brushing their teeth, sharing the same water used to flush the toilets.

When they toured the kitchen area, Wasserman Schultz said government employees were being offered large pieces of roast chicken and sausages, while the detainees’ lunch consisted of a “gray turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and chips.”

“I don’t see how that could possibly sustain them nutritionally or not make them hungry,” Wasserman Schultz said. “And when you have hungry people, obviously their mood changes.”

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who was also on the tour, said the lawmakers were concerned about reports of unhygienic conditions due to toilets not working and “feces being spread everywhere,” but were denied access from viewing units where migrants are currently detained.

They were also not permitted to view the medical facilities, with officials citing HIPAA laws, despite lawmakers being allowed to examine the medical facilities at other detention facilities, he said.

“It is something everyone, whether you’re Democrat, Republican or anything, should be deeply ashamed of,” Frost said. “Immigrants don’t poison the blood of this nation. They are the blood of this nation.”

US Rep. Darren Soto said lawmakers also witnessed evidence of flooding, highlighting serious concerns of what could happen to detainees if there’s severe weather during what forecasters said may be a busy hurricane season.

“What we saw in our inspection today was a political stunt, dangerous and wasteful,” Soto said after the tour. “One can’t help but understand and conclude that this is a total cruel political stunt meant to have a spectacle of political theater and it’s wasting taxpayer dollars and putting our ICE agents, our troops and ICE detainees in jeopardy.”

Detained Migrant’s Family Reports Difficult Conditions, No Access to Lawyer

About 900 people are currently detained at the facility, Wasserman Schultz said during the news conference but it has the capacity to hold 3,000 people, with room for more, according to Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The wife of a 43-year-old Guatemalan man currently detained at “Alligator Alcatraz” told CNN her husband is enduring harsh conditions similar to those described by lawmakers who toured the facility. After more than two weeks in detention, she said, he has yet to see a lawyer.

“There are too many mosquitoes … He’s in a really bad condition. The power goes off at times because they’re using generators,” the woman told CNN in an interview Tuesday.

“The detainees are being held in tents, and it is very hot there. They’re in bad conditions. … There’s not enough food. Sick people are not getting medication. Every time I ask about his situation, he tells me it’s bad,” she said.

The Guatemalan woman said she, her husband, and their 11-month-old baby went fishing on June 25 in the Everglades. A Florida wildlife officer approached them and asked for documents. Her husband had a valid driver’s license, she said, but when the officer realized she didn’t have any documents proving she was in the country legally, the officer called immigration authorities who detained the whole family.

After spending seven-and-a-half hours in what she describes as a “dirty holding cell,” she and her baby – a US citizen – were released, but her husband was detained. She now wears an ankle bracelet.

Her husband later told her he remained in detention at the Dania Beach Jail, near Fort Lauderdale, for eight days, before being transferred to “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Once transferred, he was unable to take a shower for six days and there were not enough facilities for washing hands, she said. On Friday, he was woken up at 3 a.m. to take a shower because of the number of people waiting for their turn, she said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Florida detention facility, did not immediately reply to CNN’s request for comment about specific allegations about conditions there.

In a written statement posted on X Tuesday, DHS said, “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”

“Alligator Alcatraz” Set Up In Just Eight Days

In little over a week, workers transformed the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from an 11,000-foot runway into a temporary tent city President Donald Trump toured last week.

Trump raved about the facility’s “incredible” quick construction during his visit and pointed to the detention center as an example of what he wants to implement “in many states.”

The project was fast-tracked under an executive order from DeSantis, who framed illegal immigration as a state emergency.

Florida lawmakers allowed into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ say detainees packed into cages | CNN
Deep in the hazardous and ecologically fragile Everglades, hundreds of migrants are confined in cages in a makeshift tent detention facility Florida’s Republican governor calls “safe and secure” and Democratic lawmakers call “inhumane.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/us/alligator-alcatraz-lawmaker-tour-conditions

CNN: Florida lawmakers allowed into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ say detainees packed into cages

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Deep in the hazardous and ecologically fragile Everglades, hundreds of migrants are confined in cages in a makeshift tent detention facility Florida’s Republican governor calls “safe and secure” and Democratic lawmakers call “inhumane.”

Two days after filing a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being “unlawfully denied entry” to inspect conditions at the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” members of Congress and state representatives were given a limited tour Saturday to inspect conditions after calling the lack of access a “deliberate obstruction meant to hide what’s really happening behind those gates,” according to a joint statement from lawmakers.

They said they heard detainees shouting for help and crying out “libertad”— Spanish for “freedom” — amid sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals.

“They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida’s 25th Congressional District, said during a news conference following their tour.

The families of some of the detainees have also decried conditions in the facility, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials defend it as offering higher detention standards than many US prisons.

Lawmakers Shown Empty Cells

On the tour, the lawmakers said they were not allowed to visit areas where migrants are currently being detained but instead were shown cells not yet being used.

Wasserman Schultz said each cage contained three small toilets with attached sinks, which detainees use for drinking water and brushing their teeth, sharing the same water used to flush the toilets.

When they toured the kitchen area, Wasserman Schultz said government employees were being offered large pieces of roast chicken and sausages, while the detainees’ lunch consisted of a “gray turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and chips.”

“I don’t see how that could possibly sustain them nutritionally or not make them hungry,” Wasserman Schultz said. “And when you have hungry people, obviously their mood changes.”

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who was also on the tour, said the lawmakers were concerned about reports of unhygienic conditions due to toilets not working and “feces being spread everywhere,” but were denied access from viewing units where migrants are currently detained.

They were also not permitted to view the medical facilities, with officials citing HIPAA laws, despite lawmakers being allowed to examine the medical facilities at other detention facilities, he said.

“It is something everyone, whether you’re Democrat, Republican or anything, should be deeply ashamed of,” Frost said. “Immigrants don’t poison the blood of this nation. They are the blood of this nation.”

US Rep. Darren Soto said lawmakers also witnessed evidence of flooding, highlighting serious concerns of what could happen to detainees if there’s severe weather during what forecasters said may be a busy hurricane season.

“What we saw in our inspection today was a political stunt, dangerous and wasteful,” Soto said after the tour. “One can’t help but understand and conclude that this is a total cruel political stunt meant to have a spectacle of political theater and it’s wasting taxpayer dollars and putting our ICE agents, our troops and ICE detainees in jeopardy.”

About 900 people are currently detained at the facility, Wasserman Schultz said during the news conference but it has the capacity to hold 3,000 people, with room for more, according to Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

The wife of a 43-year-old Guatemalan man currently detained at “Alligator Alcatraz” told CNN her husband is enduring harsh conditions similar to those described by lawmakers who toured the facility. After more than two weeks in detention, she said, he has yet to see a lawyer.

“There are too many mosquitoes … He’s in a really bad condition. The power goes off at times because they’re using generators,” the woman told CNN in an interview Tuesday.

“The detainees are being held in tents, and it is very hot there. They’re in bad conditions. … There’s not enough food. Sick people are not getting medication. Every time I ask about his situation, he tells me it’s bad,” she said.

The Guatemalan woman said she, her husband, and their 11-month-old baby went fishing on June 25 in the Everglades. A Florida wildlife officer approached them and asked for documents. Her husband had a valid driver’s license, she said, but when the officer realized she didn’t have any documents proving she was in the country legally, the officer called immigration authorities who detained the whole family.

After spending seven-and-a-half hours in what she describes as a “dirty holding cell,” she and her baby – a US citizen – were released, but her husband was detained. She now wears an ankle bracelet.

Her husband later told her he remained in detention at the Dania Beach Jail, near Fort Lauderdale, for eight days, before being transferred to “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Once transferred, he was unable to take a shower for six days and there were not enough facilities for washing hands, she said. On Friday, he was woken up at 3 a.m. to take a shower because of the number of people waiting for their turn, she said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Florida detention facility, did not immediately reply to CNN’s request for comment about specific allegations about conditions there.

In a written statement posted on X Tuesday, DHS said, “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Set Up In Just Eight Days

In little over a week, workers transformed the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport from an 11,000-foot runway into a temporary tent city President Donald Trump toured last week.

Trump raved about the facility’s “incredible” quick construction during his visit and pointed to the detention center as an example of what he wants to implement “in many states.”

The project was fast-tracked under an executive order from DeSantis, who framed illegal immigration as a state emergency.

Sounds like more of a coverup than a tour!

Florida lawmakers allowed into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ say detainees packed into cages | CNN
Deep in the hazardous and ecologically fragile Everglades, hundreds of migrants are confined in cages in a makeshift tent detention facility Florida’s Republican governor calls “safe and secure” and Democratic lawmakers call “inhumane.”

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/us/alligator-alcatraz-lawmaker-tour-conditions

New York Post: Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ will ‘turbocharge’ mass deportations with hiring of 10K new ICE agents: WH

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ICE will “turbocharge” its arrests and deportations of illegal migrants roaming the country when President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is passed, administration officials said Tuesday.

The nearly 900-page megabill — which was approved by the Senate on Tuesday — will allow ICE to hire 10,000 new officers and double its capacity to detain illegal immigrants. It also offers a $10,000 a year bonus for immigration agents, according to the White House.

Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ will ‘turbocharge’ mass deportations with hiring of 10K new ICE agents: WH
The nearly 900-page megabill will allow ICE to hire 10,000 new officers and double its capacity to detain illegal immigrants. It also offers a $10,000 a year bonus for immigration agents, according…

https://nypost.com/2025/07/01/us-news/big-beautiful-bill-will-turbocharge-mass-deportations-wh

Daily Beast: Florida City Ends ICE Deal Ahead of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Visit

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Key West, home to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., voted to end its cooperation agreement with ICE.

A Florida city welcomed President Donald Trump to the state Tuesday by making life harder for his ICE goons.

Hours before Trump touched down at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” city commissioners in Key West voted 6-1 in favor of scrapping an agreement requiring local police to coordinate with federal immigration officials.

The vote “basically invalidated the city’s most recent agreement with ICE,” which was reached in March, reported Local 10.

“People who are seeking political asylum are important members of our community,” Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said, according to WLRN. “We have thousands of them here, by the way. And they deserve the respect that anybody else does.”

Florida’s southernmost city, less than 100 miles from the Cuban coast, is also among its most progressive. Commissioner Donald Lee said that the city’s police chief, Sean Brandenburg, signed the deal to cooperate with ICE because he had a proverbial “gun” to his head from both federal and state officials. The Florida city of Fort Myers has refused to sign an agreement, and its leaders have been threatened with removal from office.

Key West residents went into uproar last month when a beloved local hairstylist, who a city cop stopped as he rode his e-bike to work, was placed in ICE custody and detained for weeks.

Lee Stinton, a Northern Ireland national, holds an employment authorization card and has applied for a green card, according to Keys Weekly. Still, his traffic infraction reportedly warranted the involvement of ICE agents, who allegedly harassed him and tossed him in a detention center in Miami, where a Canadian citizen, 49, and a Cuban national, 75, died in custody within the last week.

…

“The ICE agent that got involved in his traffic stop—and I’m still not sure how that happened, whether he was riding with the police officer or showed up separately—saw the photo of the two of us on Lee’s phone’s lock screen, and assumed I was Haitian,” Davis said. “He asked Lee, ‘Is that your boyfriend? We’ll go find him as well and get two for one.’”

Florida City Ends ICE Deal Ahead of Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Visit
Key West, home to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., voted to end its cooperation agreement with ICE.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-city-ends-ice-deal-ahead-of-trumps-alligator-alcatraz-visit

NBC News: Debate over ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center a personal one for members of Miccosukee and Seminole tribes

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The homes of Miccosukee and Seminole people, as well as their ceremonial sites, surround the detention center on three sides.

The constant rumbling of passing dump trucks drowns out the once familiar chirping of birds at the family home of Mae’anna Osceola-Hart in Everglades National Park.

“It’s all-day, all-night truck noise,” says the 21-year-old photographer who describes herself as part Miccosukee and part Seminole, two Florida tribes at the heart of the debate over the detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The homes of Miccosukee and Seminole people, as well as their ceremonial sites, surround the detention center on three sides.

Osceola-Hart’s great-grandfather Wild Bill Osceola fought against the development of an airport at the same site where the ICE facility’s construction is now underway.

In 1968, authorities in Dade County, now known as Miami-Dade County, began building the Big Cypress Jetport on land the Miccosukees used for ceremonial practices. The Dade County Port Authority referred to the project as the “world’s largest airport,” with six runways designed to handle large jets, and officials were quoted as calling the environmental and tribal leaders who opposed it “butterfly chasers.”

The airport became a flashpoint for resistance, but in 1969, a coalition including Osceola-Hart’s great-grandfather, fellow tribesmen and conservationists persuaded Florida Gov. Claude R. Kirk Jr. that the airport would damage the Everglades. He ordered construction be stopped. One runway, approximately 10,000 feet in length, was left behind as a training ground for pilots.

Osceola-Hart is proud of her great-grandfather’s efforts to stop the 1960s development, but she is disappointed the Miccosukees lost land they considered sacred. “We got kicked out of ceremonial grounds,” she says.

Finding a safe place to live has been an ongoing battle for the tribes in Florida. Seminoles retreated into the Everglades after the Seminole wars ended in 1858.

…

Leaders of both tribes are constantly advocating for the preservation of the national park’s wildlife and vegetation, but they don’t have authority over how the land is used.

“It’s a long, fraught battle,” says William “Popeye” Osceola, secretary of the Miccosukee Tribe, describing how tribes are constantly fighting for rights over the land they have lived on for more than a century.

…

William Osceola tells young members of his tribe to stay engaged to protect their rights. “Some of these fights, they come in different forms, but it’s still the same fight.” he said.

Osceola-Hart agrees. “This is history repeating itself,” she says.

Debate over ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention center a personal one for members of Miccosukee and Seminole tribes
The homes of Miccosukee and Seminole people, as well as their ceremonial sites, surround the detention center on three sides.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alligator-alcatraz-detention-center-personal-rcna215824

Charlotte Observer: ACLU Wins Major Legal Decision on Immigration Law

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Florida’s latest immigration law requires undocumented adults to report to federal authorities before entering the state, allowing for their arrest and prosecution. Despite a federal judge’s injunction against enforcing this law, some arrests have still happened, including one involving a U.S. citizen.

…

Despite U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams’ temporary injunction, some unlawful arrests have taken place, including one of a U.S. citizen.

Williams stated, “There is no such basis.” She added, “Why aren’t these people being released immediately?”

Williams said, “I’m astounded and don’t understand this argument.” She added, “That’s concerning that they don’t work in concert with state officials. When I issued the temporary restraining order, it never occurred to me that police officers would not be bound by it.”

Williams added, “It never occurred to me that the state attorneys would not give direction to law enforcement so that we would not have these unfortunate arrests.”

James Uthmeier, the Attorney General of Florida, said his office must comply with the order but also claimed he cannot stop law enforcement agencies from enforcing the law independently.

ACLU Wins Major Legal Decision on Immigration Law
Florida’s latest immigration law requires undocumented adults to report to federal authorities before entering the state, allowing for their arrest and prosecution. Despite a federal judge’s injunction against enforcing this law, some arrests have still happened, including one involving a U.S. citizen. Tensions have risen as state officials clash over enforcing the policies. Despite U.S.Continue reading “ACLU Wins Major Legal Decision on…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aclu-wins-major-legal-decision-on-immigration-law/ar-AA1GVlWP

Newsweek: Ron DeSantis says Floridians have right to hit protesters with cars

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said Floridians have a right to hit protesters with their car if they need to “flee for your safety.”

DeSantis was speaking on The Rubin Report on Wednesday, when he said: “We also have a policy that if you’re driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle, and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety.

“And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you. You don’t have to just sit there and be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets.”

Note that “policy” is not the same as “law”. Don’t count on DeSantis’s bad advice to save your sorry ass if you drive over someone:

Civil rights activist Heather Heyer was killed after James Alex Fields Jr., drove his car into counter protesters at the Unite the Right Rally in 2017. Fields argued self-defense but was found guilty of first degree murder.

Ron DeSantis says Floridians have right to hit protesters with cars
“That’s their fault for impinging on you,” Florida’s governor said.

https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-says-floridians-have-right-hit-protesters-cars-2084418