In a surprising and possibly unlawful act, five state legislators were denied entry Thursday into a taxpayer-funded migrant detention center deep in the Everglades, raising questions about what will happen behind the razor-wire fences that are being erected surrounding the controversial facility the state has named Alligator Alcatraz.

Armed only with state law and a growing list of humanitarian concerns, state Senators Shevrin Jones and Carlos Guillermo Smith, along with Representatives Anna V. Eskamani, Angie Nixon and Michele Rayner, arrived at the gates of the facility to conduct what they saw as a legally authorized inspection.

What they encountered instead was silence, locked doors and a bureaucratic wall. The state’s shifting justification for not letting them in — first a flat denial, then vague “safety concerns” — only fueled suspicions.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    ‘What are they hiding?’

    Massive Constitutional and Human Rights violations, shithead, what the fuck do you think they’re hiding? Christ.

  • Archangel1313@lemmy.ca
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    23 hours ago

    If they aren’t letting them in due to “safety concerns”, then the facility obviously isn’t “safe” for anyone.

  • shininghero@pawb.social
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    22 hours ago

    This isn’t surprising anymore. These senators need to start showing up with a private squad to start enforcing their legally allowed access.

    Preferably with breaching explosives after securing the main entry checkpoint.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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    24 hours ago

    Elote, churrasco and churros: Alligator Alcatraz workers fed by Miami food trucks

    “They love our food but they hate our people,” wrote Tiktok user @ocozalez in a post documenting the vendors entering the construction site. Commenters expressed outrage that the vendors would contract their services for a project that could potentially affect Hispanic immigrants. “Are they seriously celebrating with the food from the very people they are locking up in there?” asked a commenter.

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    So, what is the actual law behind this? Who can enter where on what ground? For anyone familiar with the local law, this should be a super clear cut case, no? So “possibly unlawful” is a bit odd, where I rather think it is in fact lawful, otherwise they would be able to simply make the law that was broken.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      No no, journalism doesn’t actually work like that. Nothing can ever be known, only intimated.

      I mean, yes, real actual journalism works exactly like that but that’s not what we have. Because of the fascism.

    • kautau@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      “Small government” and “state’s rights” but somehow nobody from the state has any access to this federal facility being built in their state

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    If you want to get rid of bodies I can think of no finer environment than the Everglades, 7,800 mi² of swamp. I’ve got a piddly 2.5 acres of swamp that’s not nearly as fecund as the Everglades, but I’ve thought dumping a corpse in there would be the perfect crime.

    It’s not just the alligators that would eat dead bodies. I don’t have gators but for all the animal bones I’ve found, they were all perfectly stripped. There are places that look 3" deep, but you’ll sink up to your hips. Those bones would never be found.