© 2025 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.

'Still horrible conditions,' says US Rep. Maxwell Frost after second 'Alligator Alcatraz' visit

Rep. Maxwell Frost speaks during a news conference outside the migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" after touring the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)
Alexandra Rodriguez/AP
/
FR172226 AP
Rep. Maxwell Frost speaks during a news conference outside the migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" after touring the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, of Orlando, toured "Alligator Alcatraz" in the Everglades for the second time on Wednesday and found far fewer people being held in the controversial facility, but that detainees continue being held in "cages" and in "horrible conditions."

Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, of Orlando, toured Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades for the second time on Wednesday and found far fewer people being held in the controversial facility but that detainees continue being held in "cages" and in "horrible conditions."

Frost, speaking to reporters at a short news conference outside the entrance to the controversial facility, said he was angry with facility officials who transferred detainees he was scheduled to meet on his visit. One constituent spoke to him in tears earlier the same day saying she did not know the whereabouts of her husband, who had been locked up in Alligator Alcatraz.

"I'm just very distraught and disturbed at the fact that I wasn't able to see the men that I came here to see," Frost said.

He said state officials told him there were 336 suspected undocumented immigrants being held at the facility, a number much lower than the nearly 1,000 he saw when he visited last month with other members of Congress.

"Still cages, horrible conditions," Frost said in describing how detainees are being held in cages with 32 men crammed into a single cage.

READ MORE: Lawmakers have differing views after visiting 'Alligator Alcatraz'

He said Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, of Miami also toured the facility and that a detainee recognized him and spoke to him directly. Gimenez did not make any public remarks about his tour of the facility.

The Democratic lawmaker's visit happened a day before a federal judge is set to rule on a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe. The groups are seeking to stop further construction and operations at the detention center until they comply with federal environmental laws.

"I do have grave environmental concerns about what's going on," he said. "I saw a leakage from a lot of the trailers and bathrooms and different things like that."

"It seems like the state itself understands that they could be told to shut this down, whether it's this week, next week or in the future."

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami ordered a 14-day halt on additional construction at the site while witnesses testified at a hearing that wrapped up last week. She has said she plans to issue a ruling before the order expires later this week.

Detainees at the facility have said worms turn up in the food, toilets don't flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.
Copyright 2025 WLRN Public Media

Sergio Bustos
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.