By Vanguard Staff
A new Amnesty International report accuses Florida officials and the Trump administration of overseeing a system of immigration detention that subjects migrants and asylum seekers to conditions amounting to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, and, in some cases, enforced disappearances.
The 61-page report, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida, documents conditions at the Everglades Detention Facility, commonly known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” and the Krome North Service Processing Center near Miami. The findings are based on a September 2025 research trip that included interviews with detained individuals, immigrant-rights organizations and federal officials.
“We’re locked up in 1000 ft. cages. There are 32 people in each cage, and 8 cages inside the tent. The lights are like stadium lights; they’re always on, they’re never turned off or even dimmed. It’s very cold, the air conditioning is very strong. There are a lot of mosquitos,” one formerly detained individual told Amnesty International.
Amnesty International said its investigation found that Florida’s immigration policies, combined with intensified federal enforcement efforts, have created “an expansion of the system of mass arbitrary detention of asylum seekers and migrants” and have fostered fear throughout migrant and mixed-status communities.
The organization argues that detention has become “the norm, not the exception” for migrants and asylum seekers in violation of international human rights standards.
The report focuses particular attention on “Alligator Alcatraz,” a state-owned facility that opened in July 2025 and can hold approximately 3,000 detainees.
Amnesty notes that the facility is the first state-owned and operated immigration detention center in the nation and alleges it operates outside normal federal oversight systems. According to the report, detainees held there are not integrated into Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases, making it difficult for attorneys and family members to locate them.
Amnesty concluded that the lack of registration and tracking mechanisms “facilitates incommunicado detention and constitutes enforced disappearances when the whereabouts of a person being detained there is denied to their family, and they are not allowed to contact their lawyer.”
Former detainees described conditions that Amnesty characterized as degrading and dangerous.
According to the report, people held at the facility reported overflowing toilets, limited access to showers, exposure to insects, poor-quality food and water, constant illumination and a lack of privacy.
Amnesty also documented allegations of inadequate medical care and the routine use of shackles whenever detainees were moved outside their housing areas.
One former detainee compared the facility to another notorious detention site.
“It’s a copy of Guantánamo. The conditions are inhuman. We’re kidnapped there; it’s illegal. It doesn’t belong to ICE,” the individual told Amnesty International.
The report further alleges that detainees were subjected to a punishment device known as “the box,” described as a small cage-like structure measuring roughly two feet by two feet.
Amnesty stated that individuals were sometimes confined there for hours, exposed to the elements with little water and restrained to the ground. The organization concluded that use of the box “amount[s] to torture or other ill-treatment.”
Accounts gathered by Amnesty International also described verbal abuse and intimidation by guards.
“The guards would bang on the cages and yell at us,” one migrant reported.
Medical neglect emerged as another central finding. Amnesty reported receiving multiple accounts suggesting that access to medical care was inconsistent, delayed or denied. The organization concluded that medical neglect at the facility appeared “widespread and routine, rather than isolated or exceptional.”
The report also recounts allegations of deaths occurring inside the facility.
“When I was at ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ someone died. I heard a lot of screaming. But there’s no way to know what actually happened to the person because we’re not registered in ICE’s system,” one former detainee told researchers.
Amnesty International said it was unable to determine whether Florida authorities had produced reports documenting deaths at the facility and noted that it received no response after requesting information from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
The organization also highlighted what it characterized as severe barriers to legal representation and due process. Attorneys reportedly had difficulty locating clients, obtaining access to detainees or arranging confidential communications.
“We were like ghosts there. We were kidnapped,” one former detainee said.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition offered a similarly stark assessment.
“People are being administratively disappeared,” the organization told Amnesty researchers.
Another former detainee described what he said was a lack of preparation among facility staff.
“There wasn’t any sort of guide or training for the people working there. They didn’t know what they were doing,” he said.
The report also details conditions at the Krome North Service Processing Center, a long-standing ICE detention facility located on the edge of the Everglades.
Amnesty documented overcrowding, delays in intake procedures, inadequate medical care, prolonged solitary confinement and obstacles to legal representation. The organization noted that advocates have criticized Krome for years over overcrowding, deaths in custody and due process concerns.
Amnesty linked the conditions at both facilities to broader immigration policies implemented since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025.
The report argues that executive orders and federal actions have expanded immigration enforcement while limiting access to due process protections. It also criticizes language used by administration officials, asserting that rhetoric portraying migrants as criminals has helped justify an aggressive detention and deportation system.
The report cites Trump’s stated goal of removing 1 million people from the United States and contends that recent enforcement measures have produced “a system of mass arbitrary detention and deportation” intended to instill fear among migrants and asylum seekers.
Amnesty additionally raised concerns about the financial costs of “Alligator Alcatraz.” According to the report, the facility has already received more than $360 million in state-issued contracts and could require approximately $450 million annually to operate at full capacity.
Amnesty argues that the facility was financed through emergency-management funding that could otherwise have supported healthcare, housing and disaster-relief programs.
The organization concluded that conditions at both detention centers violate international human rights standards.
“Amnesty International considers that detention conditions at both facilities amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the report states. “The use of prolonged solitary confinement at Krome and the use of the ‘box’ at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ amount to torture or other ill-treatment.”
Amnesty is calling on Florida to close “Alligator Alcatraz,” prohibit state-run immigration detention facilities, end the use of emergency powers for detention-related projects and redirect funding toward social services. It also urges the federal government to end what it describes as a “mass immigration detention and deportation machine,” investigate allegations of abuse and torture, and bring detention practices into compliance with international human rights standards.
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