Several Florida legislators filed a lawsuit Thursday against top Florida officials for denying them access last week to the immigration detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, along with state Reps. Dr. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando, Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, and Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, said they were not allowed to tour the facility off Tamiami Trail in the Everglades when they made a July 3 surprise visit.
The lawsuit alleges that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie "overstepped their legal powers," noting that state law explicity entitles state legislators to carry out unannounced visits to any state or local detention facility at their "pleasure."
"This is not only about transparency, it's about whether the Governor can unilaterally block oversight from a co-equal branch of government," said the legislators in a joint statement to the media.
"We filed this lawsuit because when lawmakers are denied the legal right to conduct unannounced inspections, it's not just a violation of the law and our state's constitution, it puts lives at risk," they said.
READ MORE: Environmental groups sue to block migrant detention center rising in Florida Everglades
The legislators said "Florida law is clear: lawmakers have the statutory right to unannounced inspections. The Governor does not get to rewrite that for political convenience."
The legislators said the facility being used to detain hundreds of suspected undocumented immigrants "is tantamount to a modern-day concentration camp, hastily constructed in the middle of the Everglades, with documented flooding and serious safety concerns."
Florida officials raced to erect the compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and temporary buildings in eight days, as part of the state's efforts to help carry out President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. It includes more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security staff.
The facility is located at an airport used for training about 50 miles west of Miami and will have a capacity of about 3,000 detainees when fully operational, according to Gov Ron DeSantis and other state officials.
The center is estimated to cost $450 million a year, with the expenses incurred by Florida and reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a U.S. official said.
Immigrants apprehended Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to a Trump administration official. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation.
Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit late last month to block the construction of Alligator Alcatraz.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court seeks, to halt the "reckless plan" until it undergoes a stringent environmental review as required by federal law.
The lawsuit was filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Miami-Dade County.
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