Protesters in downtown Miami, Everglades decry Trump, ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ as guard gates go up

OCHOPEE, Fla. (WSVN) — Demonstrators came together in downtown Miami and the Florida Everglades to sound off about the newly opened immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Passionate protests were held on a soggy Fourth of July in front of the Torch of Friendship on Biscayne Boulevard and outside the detention center along U.S. 41 in Ochopee.

7News cameras captured giant guard gates going up outside of the facility.

Rounds of detainees have been brough inside “Alligator Alcatraz” since it became operational on Monday. More vans were seen pulling into the facility on Friday.

Back in downtown Miami, around 50 protesters railed against President Donald Trump and “Alligator Alcatraz.”

“You’re showing the leadership,” a speaker using a bullhorn told demonstrators.

“I think it’s inhumane. It’s right in the middle of the Everglades. This is very reminiscent to, honestly, Auschwitz, because there’s only one way, and one way out,” said a protester who identified himself as Gabriel.

“Don’t get spoiled into believing that it can’t happen here. Not only can it happen here, it’s happening here,” said another demonstrator.

“They have been making jokes that, ‘Hey, it would be great if we can have a bunch of alligators consuming these people,” said Gabriel.

Just after 6 p.m., 7News cameras captured at least 30 people holding signs near the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz.” They did not chant, however, as their protest is silent.

Demonstrators covered one of the signs at the entrance to the facility with their own. It reads “Free Our Land” in English, Spanish and Creole.

“How can someone make trees and human existence political? Well, it’s because they’ve made lawn about it, it’s because they’ve put people in cages about it,” said a speaker at the demonstration.

Some protesters even sang songs in Spanish. A woman was seen dancing in a traditional embroidered dress.

Located in the middle of Everglades swampland, “Alligator Alcatraz” was built to house roughly 5,000 undocumented migrants.

The state argues the airstrip where the facility is located has long been an active training site with thousands of flights.

Still, protesters have both environmental and humanitarian concerns.

“It doesn’t just affect that person. It affects their nuclear family, their extended family, their neighbors,” said a demonstrator.

“We have more right to be here than they do, because our lands were connected before they came and made this divide, and they think that they can do whatever they want,” said the woman who whore the traditional dress, “and that’s not fair, and it’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to the animals and the habitats that are here.”

Jake Brick, who claims he worked security at the site before the migrants arrived described the conditions.

“I didn’t deal with any detainees, but once I saw the conditions, like, during orientation and stuff, I wasn’t rocking with it,” he said. “You have a tent, and then a cage and then bunk beds, real close to each other, and then the toilet is in the open.”

Friday’s protests take place as approximately 200 U.S. Marines from the corps’ air station in North Carolina are being deployed to Florida to augment the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. However, it will be mostly logistical help, not necessarily boots on the ground.

Thursday afternoon, Democratic lawmakers wanted to get their boots on the ground at “Alligator Alcatraz,” but they were turned away at the entrance.

7News cameras rolled as state senators and representatives were denied access to the facility.

Mike Jachles, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, spoke with the lawmakers. He tried to give them contact information for someone they could reach to discuss the matter.

“You can call him and email him now,” said Jachles.

“No,” said Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon.

“I will give you his number. I’m just relaying the message to try to accommofate you,” said Jachles.

“Right now, I was told that I could give you a phone number, or I could call somebody else,” said another official at the facility.

“So, unfortunately, that’s not the law,” said Florida State Rep. Michele Rayner..

Florida State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said they had a right to enter the detention center, citing Florida Statutes 944.23 and 951.225.

“We have the statutory authority under Florida law, not only to visit our state prisons without providing notice, but also to visit our municipal detention facilities as well,” he said. 

Speaking with reporters later, the state lawmakers voiced concerns over how “Alligator Alcatraz” was made and who’s being brought there.

“This did not go through the test of sitting through committee, nor did it go through the test of being debated in the chambers, and so, because of that, that’s why we’re here,” said Jones.

Protesters’ comments in downtown Miami echoed the Democratic lawmakers’ concerns.

“You would not want your own family members there, if they were accused of committing a crime,” said Gabriel.

No additional detainee vans were seen entering “Alligator Alcatraz” after Friday afternoon.

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