Miami’s Archbishop Thomas Wenski has condemned public officials’ rhetoric praising Alligator Alcatraz, the remote ICE detention center in the Florida Everglades.
The detention center, built near alligator-infested waters, opened on July 1 with a visit from President Donald Trump. There, the president joked that immigrants who attempt to escape the prison could be eaten by alligators.
Florida Republicans have also used the detention center to boost fundraising, selling branded merchandise bearing its name.
Now, Wenski has hit back against those who have praised the pop-up prison, branding it “intentionally provocative” and “unbecoming.”
“It is alarming to see enforcement tactics that treat all irregular immigrants as dangerous criminals,” Wenski said.
“It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of ‘alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility,” he added.
The center is designed to hold 3,000 to 5,000 people, but officials are currently detaining people inside large metal enclosures covered by tents. Wenski said he’s concerned these tents can’t protect people from Florida’s extreme weather, and noted that the detention center is in an isolated area far from a hospital.
Wenski isn’t the only one sounding the alarm on the conditions there either.
Leamsy “La Figura” Izquierdo, a Cuban artist who was arrested in Miami last week, told CBS News that detainees have “no water to take a bath,” are fed once a day with maggot-infested food and don’t have access to toothpaste.
“They only brought a meal once a day and it has maggots,” he said. “They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants.”
An unnamed Colombian detainee also told CBS News he was denied access to his medication for days.
“I'm on the edge of losing my mind. I've gone three days without taking my medicine," he said. "It is impossible to sleep with this white light that's on all day.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the center and raised concerns about the conditions.
“This project dehumanizes people, strips them of their rights, and diverts public dollars from the services our communities need,” Bacardi Jackson, the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said.
Several other Catholic leaders have also spoken out against the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.
San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas said members of the nation’s sixth-largest Catholic community are excused from attending mass over “genuine fear” of immigration enforcement actions that have rocked communities across Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods.
Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez has also accused the administration of having “no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day.”
“This is not policy, it is punishment, and it can only result in cruel and arbitrary outcomes,” Gomez continued. “Already we are hearing stories of innocent fathers and mothers being wrongly deported, with no recourse to appeal.”
Trump administration holding immigrants from 26 countries at Guantánamo prison
Major DeSantis contributor was awarded Alligator Alcatraz contract
Live updates: Latest on Texas flooding death toll, Trump visit and Camp Mystic
Trump’s aggressive tariff push and ‘TACO’ spark global trade uncertainty
Aide sold Trump Media stock the day before ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs were announced
