Legal advocates are again calling for the shutting down of the Florida migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz," decrying "unlivable" conditions that include mosquitoe-ridden units and lights being on all the time.
"Detention conditions are unlivable," Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a press conference on Tuesday, as reported by NBC News.
In another passage of the conference, Rafael Collado, an inmate being held there, said through his wife's mobile phone that the place is "like a dog cage." He added that poor sanitation and floodwater from recent storms led him to get fungus on his feet.
Collado went on to claim detainees are stripped naked when moved between cells and that he has no schedule to take blood pressure medication. He was then told by a guard to end the call.
Juan Palma, another detainee, told the outlet that he feels like his life is in danger. He added he feels in a constant "state of torture."
Earlier in July, other detainees claimed they were being denied basic necessities like clean food, medicine, and even water for bathing.
Leamsy Izquierdo, a Cuban-born artist and U.S. permanent resident, who was arrested after a dispute over a jet ski repossession and transferred to the site, told Telemundo 51 that conditions were unsanitary and dehumanizing.
He alleged that "they give you food only once a day, food that even has worms in it," and that no showers or hygiene facilities have been available for at least four days. "The mosquitoes are the size of elephants," he added, describing sleepless nights under constant lights and freezing tent temperatures.
Democrats have repeatedly criticized the building of the facility and the conditions in which detainees are being held. Last week a group of lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at shutting it down.
The bill is called the "No Cages in the Everglades Act" and is led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. It seeks to prevent DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from operating or funding the facility, as well as any other "immigration detention facility located within or adjacent to the Everglades ecosystem."
"Trump and Ron DeSantis have exploited legal ambiguity around this Everglades internment camp to avoid any scrutiny of abuses there," the lawmaker said in a statement.
"Our bill would shut down this atrocity, strengthen oversight of detention facilities nationwide, and mandate public reporting on costs, conditions, and the treatment of detainees, as well as report on any harms to the environment and nearby tribal lands," it adds.
The Miami Herald, however, noted that the bill is unlikely to be successful, considering Republicans control the Lower House.
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