Immigrants held in small outdoor cages at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida, investigators find

In 2025, the detention facility was built over the course of eight days in the Everglades, a protected wetland known for its alligators. Trump once joked that immigrants held there would need to learn "how to run away" from the reptiles at the facility, which civil rights groups have decried as inhumane. In June 2026, DeSantis said the facility would close as it was only meant to be temporary. According to the OIG report, between July 2025 and January 2026, the facility kept 79 immigrants in the small metal enclosures, describing them as "calming areas" for people to "deescalate and have time alone". They were held there from periods ranging from minutes to nearly two hours, at least once as a disciplinary measure, OIG said. "The use of such restrictive spaces is highly unconventional and does not align with standards for humane treatment," the report stated. Detainees at the facility have previously told the BBC they were denied necessary medication and regular showers and other hygiene measures. In their report, OIG inspectors said they found immigrants held at the facility had to use showers infested with small bugs and were only allowed to do so three times a week. The facility did not provide them with sufficient living space, "creating cramped conditions for detainees who spent most of their time in their housing units", according to the report.