In the summer of 2025, a detention facility rose from the Florida Everglades in eight days, and by January 2026, federal investigators arrived to find conditions they had never before witnessed in an American immigration jail. The site — built under state authority, funded by federal dollars, and nicknamed 'Alligator Alcatraz' — confined approximately 79 immigrants in outdoor metal cages barely larger than a parking space, while denying them clean water, adequate medical care, and basic hygiene. When the watchdog's findings were released in September 2026, the facility had already closed, but
DHS watchdog finds immigrants held in small cages at Florida detention centre
Approximately 79 immigrants were held in restrictive metal cages for extended periods, denied adequate hygiene facilities, clean water, and necessary medical care.