Several Florida nonprofits, medical professionals, public health experts and families of detainees held at the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in the Everglades are calling for the site to be shut down due to what they are calling inhumane conditions and environmental damage. 

On Tuesday morning, they held a news conference outside the facility to outline what they say are dangerous conditions. 

Heat, health concerns mount inside facility

Demonstrators raised concerns about detainees suffering in blistering heat with limited medical care.

"We name it a concentration camp built on stolen indigenous land," said activist Ruth Jean Noel.

Detainee Rafael Colado, who spoke by phone from inside the facility, compared it to a dog cage and said he sometimes goes days without a shower.

"There's no set schedule to get his medicine for high blood pressure and there's water coming into his tent," said Colado.

"They don't deserve it. It's not human," his wife added.

Alligator Alcatraz detainees report poor conditions inside detention center

Tents are used to house the detainees at the hastily constructed camp erected at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

Detainees have said the cages where they are forced to sleep are crowded and the food is sub-standard. Some have said they've gone days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and at times the air conditioners for the tents abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat. They've said their drinking water comes from toilet spigots and sometimes the toilets back up, spilling feces onto the ground. 

"The detention conditions are unlivable. When you expose human beings to human waste in heat, in a hot environment, you propagate germs and therefore illnesses. When you keep people caged with no possibility to step outside, you impact their mental health. People in there have not been allowed to step outside of those cages. When they are telling you that there are A/Cs (air conditioners) and two generator systems, they're lying, because many testimonies that we've heard, (said) the lights go off and that the A/Cs are turned off for at least five hours in the day," Tessa Petit, the co-executive director of the , said. 

Sonia Bichara, whose husband is being held at the site, said he described the deplorable conditions.

"The officers are trying him, like cursing, saying bad words, (they) tell him to go back to where he came from and so on. Due to the water, the rain, that was here a couple of weeks ago, he has fungus on his feet," she said.

Another woman said her son was sent out to have surgery. When they brought him back she said he got an infection and the most they gave him was an aspirin.

Armen Henderson, executive director at Dade County Street Response, said the conditions are a blatant assault on human rights. 

"By imprisoning innocent people in tents surrounded by fences and barbed wire, with no proper sanitation, it is nothing less than a concentration camp. This is a public health crisis unfolding in our own backyard," he said in a statement.

Governor dismisses criticism

Governor Ron DeSantis, who has praised the facility as a streamlined solution for hearings and deportations, pushed back on the criticism during remarks Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.

"These are criminals. They make a claim and the media runs with it. They were mad ham sandwiches weren't toasted — give me a break!" DeSantis said.

Florida officials deny accusations of inhumane treatment at Alligator Alcatraz

Florida officials have denied the allegations, and say facility meets the standards required by law. 

"There is a 24/7, fully staffed medical facility with pharmacy on site and there is working air conditioning throughout the facility," a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) told CBS News Miami on July 18. 

In a previous statement about accusations of inhumane treatment at the facility by Cuban reggaeton artist Leamsy La Figura and other detainees, FDEM said the allegations were "completely false."

"The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order," said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for FDEM, on July 9. 

FDEM was the engine behind Alligator Alcatraz, using the state's emergency management tools and funding to build, staff and operate the detention facility.

The state has estimated it will cost roughly $450 million a year to operate the detention facility.  

Activists want Alligator Alcatraz shut down

The Florida Immigrant Coalition and its partners are calling on the state to immediately evacuate the camp and close down the facility. They also want emergency health screenings and care for all current and recently released detainees. 

They are also demanding full legal access for detainees and independent inspections of conditions. Detainees have reportedly been denied legal counsel through standard processes.

Alligator Alcatraz came together quickly

On June 19, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed  the idea of building a temporary detention facility in the Everglades that he called "Alligator Alcatraz" to house U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

Uthmeier said the facility would sit on the already constructed runway at TNT and hold more than 1,000 beds.

At the time, officials hadn't shared the projected cost of the facility, but said it could be operational within 30 to 60 days after construction.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on June 23 that the federal government would fund Florida's efforts to set up immigration detention centers, including "Alligator Alcatraz."  She said they would be funded "in large part" by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) shelter and services program.

That same day, Uthmeier said that the federal government had "approved" the construction plans for "Alligator Alcatraz" and other facilities, which could collectively house as many as 5,000 detainees. Uthmeier said the Alligator Alcatraz location had the advantages of an existing site and a 10,500-foot runway, with the Everglades serving as a natural security perimeter.

Florida officials recently commandeered the land by using state emergency powers under an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis during the Biden administration to respond to what the governor deemed "a crisis caused by illegal immigration."

In a matter of days, massive tents were erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials rolled into the site as construction moved forward.

For the state emergency management staff leading the project, it wasn't unlike responding to another hurricane, just with more chain-link fencing, and barbed wire stretching more than 28,000 feet, according to state officials.  

On Thursday, July 3, the first detainees were brought to the site. Since then, almost 1,000 detainees have come through the facility.    

• Immigration
• Ron DeSantis
• Florida