“We are surrounded by kilometers of foot swamps and the only way out is, really, the deportation”. Otherwise, those who try to escape would be welcomed by “many policemen in the form of alligators”. These are some of the disconcerting statements made by Donal Trump during the visit the new Florida detention center, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”, where about 3,000 migrants are expected to be locked in the field of lives decided by Trump on illegal immigration, one of his great obsessions of this presidency.
During the visit to the structure in the everglades of Florida, Trump said that he will soon host the most “threatening migrants, some of the most ferocious people on the planet”. The place is really left and the administration has declared that alligators, crocodiles and pitons in the surrounding wetlands will prevent the prisoners from fleeing.
Trump, who wore the red cap with the slogan sorceress (Make America Great Again) said that the structure “could be” a model for future plants of this type, adding that its administration is actively working with the governments of different republican states, such as Louisiana, to find other suitable places.
The interior secretary Kristi Noem has urged “all American states to create centers such as ‘Alligator Alcatraz'” And he invited migrants without documents to “self -employ” before being arrested. According to the interior secretary, more than one million people who have decided to voluntarily leave the United States so far are and perhaps consider returning legally.
The structure is at the center of strong criticism by human rights activists, leader of local indigenous communities and environmentalists. Not only is the treatment towards migrants, but also the environmental impact of a structure that was made greatly in the area that had been occupied in the past by an airport.
“It’s like a theatricalization of cruelty,” said Maria Asuncion Bilbao, coordinator of the Florida campaign at the American Friends Service Committee immigration defense group. “When we talk about people as if they were parasites … the place, the way it is done, the dehumanizing language … There is nothing in this detention field that is not cruel and inhuman,” adds Thomas Kennedy, political analyst of Florida Immigrant Coalition.
The governor of Florida Ron Desantis He underlined that the structure is temporary and necessary to lighten the workload of the police and state prisons, which saw an influx of migrants following the turn of lives on the immigration of the Trump administration.
The governor added that he hopes that the structure is a “multiplier of forces” in the context of the growing efforts of the administration to retain and deport migrants without documents.
