The Daily Populous Saturday August 30th, 2025 night edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by Ok_Employer7837

Guards at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail deployed teargas and engaged in a mass beating of detainees to quell a mini-uprising, it was reported on Friday.

The allegations, made by at least three detainees in phone calls to Miami’s Spanish language news channel Noticias 23, come as authorities race to empty the camp in compliance with a judge’s order to close the remote tented camp in the Everglades wetlands.

The incident took place after several migrants held there began shouting for “freedom” after one received news a relative had died, according to the outlet. A team of guards then rushed in and began beating individuals indiscriminately with batons, and fired teargas at them, the detainees said.

“They’ve beaten everyone here, a lot of people have bled. Brother, teargas. We are immigrants, we are not criminals, we are not murderers,” one of the men reportedly told Noticias 23 in a call.

The detainees claimed a fire alarm was sounding continuously, and a helicopter was heard circling overhead.

Reports of “inhumane” conditions and brutality at the camp, where migrants are held in metal cages as they await deportation, have become commonplace. Donald Trump and Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, celebrated its harsh environment as they toured the facility together when it opened last month.

Kathleen Williams, a federal judge in Miami, last week ordered Alligator Alcatraz to close within 60 days for breaching environmental laws, and on Wednesday refused a motion by attorneys for the state of Florida and the Trump administration to stay her order.

It was not clear when the latest incident is alleged to have taken place, and the Guardian was unable to independently confirm details.

The Florida division of emergency management (FDEM), which operates the jail on behalf of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), denied it had occurred.

“These reports are manufactured. There is no uprising happening at Alligator Alcatraz. Detainees are given clean, safe living conditions and guards are properly trained on all state and federal protocols,” Stephanie Hartman, the department’s director of communications, said in an email.

Protesters who have maintained an almost constant presence at the jail’s gates since its 2 July opening said they were unaware of any incident amounting to an uprising, but have chronicled other reports of abuse taking place there.

“People held inside the facility were on hunger strike for more than 14 days, despite the DeSantis administration denying it. What they apparently did was ship people who were hunger striking out to other facilities, Krome [in Miami], to Texas etc, to break it up,” said Noelle Damico, director of social justice at the Workers Circle.

“[An uprising] would not surprise me given the abuses that people have experienced.”

DeSantis told reporters on Wednesday that authorities have “increased the pace of the removals from there”, after Kevin Guthrie, executive director of FDEM, revealed in a memo, reported by the Associated Press, that “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days”.

The governor announced plans earlier this month for a new immigration jail in north Florida, to be called “the deportation depot”, while other states have joined the push to build detention camps with names mocking immigrants, including the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana, and the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska.

endorfan13 on August 29th, 2025 at 18:59 UTC »

What we aren't hearing is why detainees can not be heard by us. The closest this report can come to corroberating any info is to talk to protesters outside.

The government, guards, and every one in control of the concentration camp sure does have a lot to say about how great it is. But offer zero proof of anything. It was designed to be a hateful, uncomfortable, concentration camp. Remember MAGA celebrating this nazi shit? Now it's a dandy place to receive due process and fair treatment? Bullshit.

I believe the detainees. I believe what is being done there is unconstitutional and unconscionable. I believe they are being beaten and tortured. I believe we are watching crimes against humanity being covered up. There is a reason we can't hear detainees. There's a reason it's such a scramble to move them; wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't critical the detainees remain isloated, insulated, and unable to inform the world of what I am certain is taking place. We heard the FL cop say "we're going to have to start killing them.." about an actual US citizen who knew his rights. This why nazis made gas chambers, and we're rapidly heading there under this fascist regime.

Seek truth, ask questions, inform others. Once the nazis are done killing immigrants and sealing up the nation, we're next. Real shit.

gethereddout on August 29th, 2025 at 18:16 UTC »

Is nobody allowed to go talk to the actual people there???? Reporting via Ron Desantis’ statement is ABSURD

dirtyfacedkid on August 29th, 2025 at 17:38 UTC »

"...guards are properly trained on all state and federal protocols,”

That's so reassuring, given this place exists in the first place.