Immigrants Jailed at Everglades Camp Allege Barbaric Conditions, Violation of Personal Freedoms

One man jailed at the Florida incarceration camp said officials even confiscated his Bible: "They said here there is no right to religion."

Members of Congress have the legal authority to conduct oversight of ICE detention facilities. That’s not up for debate or interpretation, it’s simply the law. End of story. But in recent weeks, the Trump administration has impeded a number of federal lawmakers from exercising their congressional oversight authority, including weaponizing the Justice Department against one member in New Jersey. The federal charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver are “ripped from the authoritarian playbook,” as America’s Voice said in May. 

Since then, the administration has continued to obstruct Congressional oversight, claiming that members must give at least 72 hours notice of any visits. That, folks, is entirely made up. 

“Federal law prohibits DHS and its sub-agencies from denying members of Congress access to ‘any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens’ when they are conducting oversight,” Democracy Docket reported. “DHS said that federal law can’t apply to ICE field offices because they are not detention centers and do not hold detainees. However, immigrants are routinely temporarily detained at field offices, and federal law makes no distinction between ICE field offices, large detention centers or correctional centers.” 

Fact check: true. Just look at mass deportation architect-in-chief Stephen Miller’s recent raids in L.A., where lawyers said that abducted community members, including families with young children, were locked away in the hot basement of an administrative building with little access to food or water for as long as 48 hours.

“Agents told the family they did not have any water to provide during the family’s first day in detention; on the second day, all five were given a single bottle to share,” The Guardian reported. “The one fan in the room was pointed directly towards a guard, rather than towards the families in confinement, they told lawyers.” So it’s no surprise that the administration is seeking to, at a minimum, delay oversight of detention sites. A shocking report from WIRED adds credence.

“Records of hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers obtained by WIRED—including audio recordings—show a system inundated by life-threatening incidents, delayed treatment, and overcrowding,” the report says:

The data, obtained through public records requests, show that at least 60 percent of the centers analyzed had reported serious pregnancy complications, suicide attempts, or sexual assault allegations. Since January, these 10 facilities have collectively placed nearly 400 emergency calls. Nearly 50 of those have involved potential cardiac episodes, 26 referenced seizures, and 17 reported head injuries. Seven calls described suicide attempts or self-harm, including overdoses and hangings. Six others involved allegations of sexual abuse—including at least one case logged as “staff on detainee.”

WIRED spoke with immigration attorneys, local migrant advocates, national policy experts, and individuals who have been recently detained or have family currently in ICE custody. Their accounts echoed the data: a system overwhelmed, and at times, seemingly indifferent to medical crises.

Experts believe the true number of medical emergencies is far higher.

A group of state lawmakers in Florida were also blocked from inspecting the new Everglades detention camp, an outdoor detention site constructed in just eight days and that is already being accused of violating the rights and dignity of detained immigrants. But remember that the camp’s surrounding ecosystem – such as swamps and animal wildlife that inhabit the area – and the threats they could pose to detained individuals have actually been a morbid selling point from Donald Trump and other mass detention proponents. 

“The president was asked if it could be a model going forward for other detention sites. ‘It can be,’ he responded, adding that such a location is rare,” CBS News reported. “Surrounded by swamps & pythons, it’s a one-way ticket to regret,” the Florida GOP wrote in a social media post promoting detention camp-themed merch. “Grab our merch to support tough-on-crime borders! Limited supply—get yours before the gators do!” Gov. Ron DeSantis said that if a detained individual tries to escape, “there's a lot of alligators you're going to have to contend — no one's going anywhere.” 

The Everglades detention camp is the result of a supposed emergency declaration signed by DeSantis. But the real emergency is the abuse alleged at the site and risks looming as the state enters hurricane season. Detained individuals say they’ve been fed maggot-infested food, are unable to access water and necessary medications, have to endure 24/7 lighting, and have even been denied their ability to practice their faiths. “A lot of us have our residency documents and we don't understand why we're here," said one detained man. CBS News:

"I am Leamsy La Figura. We've been here at Alcatraz since Friday. There's over 400 people here. There's no water to take a bath, it's been four days since I've taken a bath," he said.

He claimed the food at the immigration facility is scarce and unsanitary.

"They only brought a meal once a day and it had maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants," La Figura said.

Other detainees echoed La Figura's concerns, alleging violations of their basic rights.

"They're not respecting our human rights," one man said during the same call. "We're human beings; we're not dogs. We're like rats in an experiment."

One Colombian detainee said he’d gone days without access to his medications or getting sleep. "I'm on the edge of losing my mind. I've gone three days without taking my medicine," he said. "It's impossible to sleep with this white light that's on all day." Just when he thought there was nothing more they could take, he said they confiscated his Bible. "They took the Bible I had and they said here there is no right to religion,” he said. “And my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith, and now I'm losing my faith.” Orlando Sentinel newly reports that a DACA recipient is among those jailed at the detention camp after being picked up for driving with a suspended license. “Josephine Arroyo, his Orlando-based attorney, declined to name her client fearing retaliation against him at the Everglades facility.”

Now facing a lawsuit from environmental groups alleging that the detention camp threatens the local ecosystem, the Trump administration has tried to distance itself from the project and pointed the finger at Florida. But not only did Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem tour the detention camp, “Trump said the federal government was not just going to help reimburse the state for costs, but that it also helped with construction,” NBC News reported. And, it’s presumably the federal government that’s transferring individuals to the camp – and at the financial benefit of top DeSantis donors.

Floridians have not been silent about this monstrosity, which state officials say is expected to cost as much as $450 million a year to operate. Other estimates say as much as $600 million. “Since the announcement, the project has faced sharp criticism from Indigenous leaders, environmental groups and members of the South Florida community,” the Miami Herald reports. “They argue that the detention center will damage critical wetlands, disrupt wildlife habitats, and undermine decades of restoration work.” 

“The site is more than 96% wetlands, surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve, and is habitat for the endangered Florida panther and other iconic species. This scheme is not only cruel, it threatens the Everglades ecosystem that state and federal taxpayers have spent billions to protect,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “Friends of the Everglades was founded by Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1969 to stop harmful development at this very location. Fifty-six years later, the threat has returned — and it poses another existential threat to the Everglades.”

For Indigenous peoples, the surrounding area encompasses ceremonial and sacred burial grounds. “Native Americans can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years,” the AP reported. One wonders if Stephen Miller, who has made himself the arbiter of who is and isn’t a “real” American, can say the same. 

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” said Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress. “We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here. The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”