Florida Lawmakers Sound Alarm Over Plans 'To Send Pregnant Women & Children' to 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Democratic lawmakers in Florida are raising alarm over documents suggesting immigrant children and pregnant women could be detained at 'Alligator Alcatraz.'

A draft operational plan obtained by the Miami Herald suggests minors could indeed be transported to the controversial site in the Everglades. The 35-page undated document details protocols to "separate minors from unrelated adults" and to provide "snacks and water" to minors, pregnant women and detainees with medical conditions during transport.

"The State of Florida is planning to send pregnant women and children to the 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention camp," wrote State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith on social media. "This is totally un-American. We cannot be silent."

Five Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Smith, Sen. Shevrin Jones, Rep. Anna Eskamani, Rep. Michele Rayner, and Rep. Angie Nixon — attempted to visit the site on Thursday but were turned away. "What we're witnessing isn't about security or solving problems," they said in a joint statement, "It's about inhumane political theater that endangers real people."

The newly constructed facility sits in an environmentally sensitive area bordering Miccosukee and Seminole tribal lands. Its opening has sparked both humanitarian and environmental concerns, with the entire Florida Democratic congressional delegation demanding an environmental review and calling for the site to be shut down.

Flooding was reported inside the facility earlier this week as rainwater seeped across parts of the floor, fueling safety concerns.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversaw construction, has said that final decisions about who will be detained there rest with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — both of which have yet to publicly respond.