Immigrant rights groups in the U.S. filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Trump administration over the lack of access to legal counsel for detainees at the ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility in Florida. The plaintiffs, including some detained migrants and law firms that represent clients at the center—such as Florida Keys Immigration and Sanctuary of the South—denounce that those held at the facility not only lack legal advice, but are also deprived of due process.

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In a statement, they point out that the government restricts migrants’ access to attorneys and raise concerns about the inability to submit legal documents for their clients’ release.

Furthermore, they outline that the current Republican administration has prohibited lawyers from visiting their clients and exchanging written documents between legal teams and detainees.

The plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida and Americans for Immigrant Justice, state that the restrictions infringe upon the rights of both the detained individuals and the legal service organizations and law firms with clients held at the center.

The text reads: Federal U.S. lawmakers and state legislators from Florida conducted a guided tour this Saturday of the “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility, which was opened by President Donald Trump on July 1 in a swampy area of the Everglades.

Additionally, they denounce the dire conditions at the site, with scorching temperatures, a strong presence of mosquitoes, flooded tents, and lack of access to water. They also report several clogs in toilets and sewers that have forced detainees to unclog toilets with their bare hands, as well as inadequate food and denial of religious rights.

Eunice Cho, lead attorney on the case and a member of the ACLU National Prison Project, argues that the facility represents a troubling development in the nation’s history. She contends that its existence stems from the country’s lowest impulses and serves as an example of how unchecked government power, coupled with widespread animosity, can pose significant dangers.

Dozens of migrants detained at the newly inaugurated center, located deep in the Florida Everglades, have recently reported inhumane conditions in the improvised tents, with suffocating heat and humidity, water shortages, and spoiled food. The infrastructure—built in just two weeks amid wetlands with alligators and pythons, on a former municipal airstrip 80 kilometers from Miami—also raises concerns.

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