News | Brooks Fischetti | August 27th, 2025.
Built in a mere 8 days, the newly constructed undocumented immigrant detainment facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" has quickly become the new home of over 3,000 men, women, and even for some time, a child.
A comparison can be drawn between the time taken for the facility to be built and the hurried conditions in which its inmates are housed. First-hand accounts view cells (more comparable to cages) housing 32 people each. As we take a look inside, immigrants are only permitted a shower every three to four days, are bombarded with mosquitoes, given a single meal per day, and are faced with objectively inhumane, animal-like conditions.
The center’s construction follows a 608 million dollar grant program via FEMA—the Federal Emergency Management Agency—encouraging other states to build their own detainment centers modeled after Florida's very own, citing the aforementioned facility as a strong blueprint for future projects.
Programs such as this one symbolize President Trump's desire to “defend the safety and security of our country; and protect American workers and taxpayers” despite detaining and deporting innocent residents—many of which are workers and taxpayers who contribute almost 100 billion dollars in federal, state, and local taxes while millionaires and billionaires collectively evade more than 150 billion dollars in taxes every year.
These actions have been met with intense backlash, from not only opposing sides but also within the Republican Party. For example, State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh. The Redlands Republican is pleading for President Trump and his team to grant migrant workers expedited work permits to allow them to stay in America without fear of deportation—a reasoning built on their heavy contribution to America’s work force, a foundational aspect of America’s economy, responsible for 36% of blue-collar jobs.
To add flame to fire, ICE (Immigrants and Customs Enforcement) statistics tell us that 71.7% of detainees show no sort of criminal record, contrary to the many claims of “trying to protect American citizens.”
These raids, however, aren’t limited to innocent men and women. Martir Garcia Lara—a 4th-grade student—will now miss school after being detained, separated from his father, and deported to Honduras at a scheduled immigration hearing, directly in violation of due process. Accounts such as these continue to infuriate not only Americans, but other people around the world—sparking protests in the streets calling for the protection of people not lucky enough to be born in the United States. Many of whom still have a strong work ethic, upstanding morals, and American pride equal to, if not more than, natural-born citizens.
These statistics continue to raise concerns over the Trump administration's underlying intentions. Proceeding targeting innocent people, children, blue-collar workers, and taxpayers, a question must be asked: What is the real reason for this deportation? Statistics and anecdotes just like these leave the American people speechless and in terror over the American future, continuing to grasp onto the 65 million Hispanics in America who now fear for their families, their friends, and themselves.