(Ochopee) “I have not seen sunlight for 14 days,” says Luis Gonzalez, a 25 -year -old Cuban held in “Alcatraz of the Alligators”, a new retention center for illegal immigrants built in Florida by the Trump administration.
The days are endless for detainees of this center located in the hostile swamps of the Everglades, in the south-east of the United States.
The cells, lit by permanently lit lamps, are devoid of windows. Here, no clock or television that could indicate the time. For prisoners, the concept of time no longer exists.
“Even an animal would not be treated as well. It’s torture, ”says Luis Gonzales, joined by AFP on the phone from the center.
This detention center, with aligned bunk beds, locked in wireless cages, under white canvas pavilions, was built at lightning speed on the ruins of an old aerodrome and opened in early July.
Some 3000 places are planned there, according to the Secretary of Internal Security, Kristi Noem.
The White House and the Local Authorities nicknamed it the “Alcatraz of the Alligators”, in reference to the former Prison Island of San Francisco that Donald Trump plans to reopen.
But the center, which has become one of the symbols of the migration policy of the government of Donald Trump, angered environmental associations-the Everglades being a protected area of human rights defenders.
Treaties “like murderers”
Luis Gonzalez arrived in the United States in 2022 and settled in Florida. He was released by the authorities, during the examination of his asylum application.
But last month, his file was rejected. Immigration police came to arrest him.
He says he was chained for more than a day on a bus with other prisoners, before being led to “Alcatraz des Alligators”.
“They never make us get out of the tents. And when they take us to the canteen, we have to put our hands on our heads as if we were murderers, ”says the young man.
Luis Gonzales shares a cell with around thirty people. The space, which he describes as “chicken coop”, is surrounded by barbed wire and is only very rarely cleaned.
Ditto for the three toilets shared by prisoners. He received no deodorant or toothpaste and had not been showered for a week at the time of the call with AFP.
The days are scorching, while the nights are so cool that the blankets provided do not allow prisoners to warm up. Clouds of mosquitoes invade cells.
Hunger strike
Some detainees also denounced the lack of medical care.
Michael Borrego Fernandez, 35, complained about pain, but was only treated when he started to bleed, according to his lawyers.
He had to be hospitalized and emergency operated for hemorrhoids.
On his return, he did not receive antibiotics. His injuries infected and had to be hospitalized again.
Marcos Puig, 31, rebelled against the conditions of detention.
Joined by phone from another center of Florida, where he is currently, he says he has broken the toilets of his cell before a visit to senior officials, as a sign of protest.
He would then have been beaten and left on his knees for 12 hours in a space without cameras or air conditioning, before being transferred elsewhere.
Another detainee, Rafael Collado, 63, told his spouse to have tried to commit suicide twice and started a hunger strike during a telephone conversation which AFP attended.
Contacted by AFP, the authorities of “Alcatraz des Alligators” did not respond.
“Completely illegal”
Lawyers and activists require the closure of the Everglades’ retention center, which is the subject of two legal proceedings.
One of the two complaints considers that the prisoners are deprived of lawyer and are maintained prisoners without indictment.
“There are people who have been there since their arrival and who have still not seen a judge. (…) It’s completely illegal, “says Magdalena Cuprys, Luis Gonzalez’s lawyer.
In addition, two environmental associations have taken legal action, believing that the center threatens the fragile ecosystem of the surrounding swamps and was built without studies of environmental impact.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the suspension for 14 days of any new construction in the center while she examines the case.
