Florida has released its hurricane plan for Alligator Alcatraz — the illegal migrant processing facility in the Florida Everglades — as critics continue to bash the facility as inhumane.
Though Alligator Alcatraz has long come under fire from the left, Florida officials continue to release information on the facility’s specs as well as the type of illegal migrants processed there. Ahead of its grand opening earlier this month, Florida Division of Emergency Management head Kevin Guthrie explained that the air-conditioned facility was constructed with an aluminum structure rated to withstand a high Category 2 hurricane.
“It is a fully aluminum frame structure rated for winds of 110 miles an hour, or a high end Category 2, for those people that don’t think that we’re taking that into consideration. This is Florida,” Guthrie explained.
“[The] power supply is fully redundant with backup generators in place,” he added. “We put a staff village here on site with a capacity of 1,000,” he said. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through Nov 30.”
Additionally, the facility has three meals a day, a 24/7 medical facility and pharmacy, as well as “access to indoor and outdoor rec yards, legal and clergy support services, [and] laundry.”
But critics have continued to assert that the facility — holding migrants with rap sheets including slitting an elderly woman’s throat — is unfit for any occupants. The Miami-Herald joined the chorus of critics by asserting that the state “has no formal hurricane plan for Alligator Alcatraz,” but Guthrie was quick to respond.
Florida’s Voice obtained a 33-page memo titled “South Florida Detention Facility Continuity of Operations Plan,” which “focuses on the need for a full-scale evacuation and relocation due to a tropical cyclone but may be utilized for all-hazards,” per the document.
“This plan provides a summary of necessary actions, considerations, and courses of action for State of Florida leadership to consider when determining the need to establish continuity operations for the SFDF due to hazardous conditions threatening the primary facility,” the document states, outlining key objectives as maintaining “secure custody of all detainees during evacuation, relocation, continuity operations, and reconstitution” and to “ensure continuity of all essential services,” which includes food, medical, and more.
The document identifies alternate facilities to transfer migrants to during potential storms, although the information has been heavily redacted.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also shared a preview of the document with the caption, “Legacy media made a mistake by concocting a false narrative that can so easily be disproven,” deeming it a “failed drive-by attempt.”
The governor has continued to dismiss critics, highlighting some of the more ridiculous critiques they have received, one of which is that the ham sandwiches served were not toasted.
“First of all, they’re fed the same that the staff is fed… It’s not a prison. It’s a deportation processing center. So it is different. But like in Florida prisons, do you think the prisoners get the same meals as the guards?” DeSantis asked. “No. Of course not. It’s different.”
“This is — everyone’s the same there,” he said, adding, “And they were mad that the ham sandwiches weren’t toasted. Excuse me. I mean, give me a break.”
The facility, which has fully deported dozens of migrants already, is holding some of the worst of the worst migrants, including an MS-13 member whose nickname is “Satan.”
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