TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Republican and Democrats share a very different account of the terms on the controversial ice detention site, Wani Alcatraz.
The Tampa Bay Times reports hundreds of immigrants being detained in facilities, so many are enforced in the United States without criminal charges.
Democrats described what they saw during the tour as detainees were in cages and were forced to drink and brush their teeth with water from the toilet.
“What we saw is very simple. We saw a human being in a cage,” said D-FL MP Maxwell Frost. “There are 32 people per cage, three toilets in each cage, and their drinking water coming from the toilet. People are in the toilet and can’t drink water.”
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Republican leaders said Florida went beyond what they needed.
“We had tours of the intake area, medical tents, recreation halls and bedrooms,” said R-Florida Rep. Michael Owen. “I also lay in one of the beds. It ran well with emergency services and was well done.”
The lawmakers toured the site over the weekend. They said that lawmakers did not speak to them directly, but that around 900 detainees are currently being detained there.
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The visit comes days after five state legislators were turned away from the centre during an unpublished trip. They later filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor’s office dismissed the lawsuit as “silly” and “frivolous.”
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem defended the handling of the situation, citing security concerns.
“Previously, these Democrats have put us at risk by trying to break into ice facilities and not announced in a bunch of violent protesters,” Noem said. “In federal facilities, there are protocols for visits. You can’t show up with protesters and break the fence.”
Noem visited the facility last week and said the site is a national model for immigration enforcement. She told NBC’s Meet The Press Moderator Kristen Welker that the center meets federal detention standards.
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“I’ve seen these rooms. I don’t call them prison cell phones,” Noem said. “They have facilities that are kept in the highest rules of what the federal government needs.”
When asked about Democrats calling them cages, Noem replied, “I wish they’d say that during the Biden administration people were literally stacked up on each other on cement floors.”
More than 286,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested since President Donald Trump took office, according to the NOEM. She said 70% of those individuals have been convicted or faced pending claims.
Noem added that she is in discussion with five other Republican governors and using Wannial Catraz as a model to increase ice bed capacity and promote deportation.
