FLORIDA — Florida's state lawmakers and members of Congress will be getting a tour of the "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention facility on Saturday, according to an email invitation from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM).
On July 9, six Florida Democrats, U.S. Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, Darren Soto, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Maxwell Frost and Jared Moskowitz, released a joint statement after receiving the tour invitation from the FDEM.
“As Members of Congress, we were planning an unannounced oversight visit of this Everglades detention facility. Today, we received notice from the state announcing its own planned ‘tour’ at the same time, on the same day. We do not need permission to conduct lawful oversight. This sanitized tour is not real oversight. We expect ICE and FDEM will try to paper over the inhumane treatment of detained people with a limited, scrubbed visit and rehearsed answers. Given reports of horrific living conditions, rampant denial of due process, the risk of death and destruction from a hurricane, plus irreversible damage to the Everglades and tribal lands, we will attend this scripted 'tour' to see the conditions and speak to detainees and guards. We will also return, unannounced, to conduct real oversight as the law allows and the American people demand," the statement said.
The tour will take place on July 12 at 11 a.m.
FLDEM said the tour is only for legislators and members of Congress. Staff and other visitors will not be permitted.
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