Attorneys for detainees at the "Alligator Alcatraz" want a federal judge to make an unscheduled, in-person visit to the immigration detention center to see if they are getting sufficient access to their lawyers.
Attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Friday to make the visit within the next two months to help assess whether detainees are allowed to meet with their attorneys in a confidential and regular manner.
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The facility was built this summer at a remote airstrip in the Everglades by the DeSantis administration.
A detainees' federal lawsuit claims:
- Their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours.
- They often are transferred to other facilities after their attorneys had made an appointment to see them.
- Scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees have been unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.
"Federal courts routinely conduct site visits as a valid fact-finding tool, especially in cases involving conditions of confinement," the detainees' attorneys wrote in their request.
But attorneys for the administration "strenuously" objected to a visit, saying a federal judge doesn't have authority to inspect a state facility and a visit would pose significant security risks.
"It would also impose a large burden on facility staff and significantly interrupt the facility's operations," attorneys for the state said.
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As of Monday, the judge hadn't ruled on the request.
The judge, who is based in Fort Myers, ordered lawyers for detainees and the state and federal government to meet last week in an effort to resolve the case. After nine hours of talks, there was no resolution.
The case over access to the legal system is one of three federal lawsuits challenging practices at the facility. Another lawsuit brought by detainees in federal court in Fort Myers argues that immigration is a federal issue, and Florida agencies and private contractors hired by the state have no authority to operate the facility under federal law. A judge last week denied a request by the detainees for a preliminary injunction to close the facility.
In the third lawsuit, a federal judge in Miami last summer ordered the facility to wind down operations over two months because officials had failed to do a review of the center's environmental impact. But an appellate court panel put that decision on hold, allowing the facility to stay open.
Detainees at the facility have complained about toilets that don't flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects that are everywhere.
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