Since early July, a group of men has been held in the Florida Everglades, with only tent fabric between them and the harsh environment. They sleep on bunk beds in cages inside large white tents. The men say food is scarce and worm-infested, that wastewater has flooded the floors, and that the heat can be broiling.
The GOP-led state government is detaining hundreds of individuals in the makeshift camp that supporters call Alligator Alcatraz, an immigration detention facility the state built in eight days on a small airstrip. Opponents are calling it Alligator Auschwitz to underscore its cruelty.
The camp’s proximity to wetlands makes the people held there vulnerable to environmental harms that have been made even more dangerous in recent years by climate change. Climate change has increased the threat of exposure to storms, extreme heat, and infectious disease in the Everglades and beyond. As the planet grows hotter, hurricanes are becoming stronger, and rainfall patterns are growing less predictable. Meanwhile, mosquitoes that can transmit diseases are thriving.
One 21-year-old Nicaraguan man at the facility said he is forced to sweat beneath blankets to avoid the blistering bites of mosquitoes, which attack all night. The man, who asked to remain anonymous while he is detained, outlined the prison’s conditions to his friend Shaunti Gibson, who has been advocating for his release on TikTok and GoFundMe. The Miami Herald has reported similar descriptions from the people being held there: giant bugs, unflushable toilets, and uncomfortable temperatures that are either too cold or too hot. One detainee told the Associated Press that the cells are like zoo cages, “teeming with mosquitoes, crickets and frogs.” (Stephanie Hartman of the Florida Division of Emergency Management denied these descriptions to Yale Climate Connections. “The facility is in good working order, and detainees have access to drinking water, showers, and clean facilities for hygiene,” she wrote in an email.)
A group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers toured the site on July 12, but they didn’t get to talk with detainees. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who represents Central Florida, posted a video after the visit in which he said, “The conditions are horrible.”
The facility, applauded by President Donald Trump and his administration, is overseen by the Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie, based on a proposal by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. Federal tax dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, are expected to help fund the facility, which will cost $450 million a year to operate.
Officials plan to hold up to 5,000 people at the remote site. State officials won’t publicly disclose their evacuation or emergency response plans related to this center.
When Yale Climate Connections emailed the Florida attorney general’s office to ask about these plans, communications director Jeremy Redfern ignored the questions and instead asked for the definition of “environmental justice” and responded that “the entire state of Florida” is vulnerable to extreme weather and mosquitoes. Afterward, he shared a screenshot of the email exchange with his more than 65,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), describing Yale Climate Connections’ reporter as a “social justice warrior.”
Bloodsucking insects
Although anyone in Florida can experience extreme weather and mosquitoes, there are some key differences between life in the state’s urban centers and an involuntary stay in a tent in the Everglades.
“The notion that the entire state of Florida is impacted the same is false,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat who represents Orlando and has been outspoken against the detention camp. She’s lived in Florida her whole life, but she said she has had to wear mosquito protection during her visits to the Everglades.
“I can tell you that the level of mosquitoes in the Everglades is intense,” Eskamani said.
The 21-year-old from Nicaragua described men whose faces, hands, stomachs, and backs are red and swollen from mosquito bites.
“I, for one, would not put any kind of loved one in that environment in the conditions they seem to be in,” said Amy Vittor, an associate professor at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine who studies vector-borne diseases, or illnesses spread by organisms like mosquitoes.
Well-known diseases like dengue and malaria are not typically transmitted by the mosquito species that live in the wetlands. But mosquitoes there can carry the West Nile virus and other lesser-known pathogens that can invade the neurosystem and have been associated with long-term cognitive issues, Vittor said. Others can lead to flu-like symptoms or, in extreme scenarios, brain swelling.
“People in cities in this country, by far and large, are sheltered behind windows and air conditioning, so even though these viruses may be out there in the nearby habitat, our actual exposure is usually quite minimal because of the infrastructure that we have,” Vittor said.
Heat, storms, and floods
Earlier this week, the heat index – which factors in humidity – was expected to hit 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit across South Florida, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory cautioning the public to seek air-conditioned spaces. The recent heat spike was made five times more likely by climate change, according to the nonprofit Climate Central. Though the state has said the detention camp is outfitted with air conditioning, reports from detainees suggest that cooling is inconsistent or too cold when it is on.
Storms and floods also jeopardize the detention camp at large. State officials told a group of reporters in early July that the tents can withstand Category 2 winds, but a day after it opened, a typical Everglades thunderstorm resulted in a small flood inside the facility.
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist with Yale Climate Connections, landed airplanes at the Everglades airstrip in the 1980s during hurricane-hunting missions with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said the area is not fit to keep people for extended periods, especially during hurricane season.
Masters said that seven recorded hurricanes have affected the site. Each brought seven to 10 inches of rain to the site, which lies seven to 12 feet above sea level. If a hurricane strikes, the impact on detainees would depend on how well the state engineered the detention facility to drain out water. The speed and effectiveness of an evacuation are other factors. There’s only one road in and out of the area.
“Moving 3,000 people from the middle of the swamp to God knows where in a mad scramble, if this is the scenario, is irresponsible and dangerous,” said Thomas Kennedy, a policy consultant with the Florida Immigrant Coalition who has been on the ground organizing against the facility and for the rights of those imprisoned.
What’s next?
Environmental groups Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity are challenging the facility’s legality in courts, arguing that noise pollution, light pollution, human waste, and water needs threaten the fragility of the wetland ecosystem.
“This is really an existential threat to the Everglades and to how we protect our national parks and national preserves in this country,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.
In the meantime, people like Gibson – the friend of the 21-year-old Nicaraguan – carry the heartbreak of uncertainty for their loved ones. She describes her best friend as a “bright, energetic person” with an exciting future ahead.
“He came here for a better life and to be able to start a family and provide and help others and become successful,” Gibson said.
Instead, he said he’s living a nightmare with inedible food and drinking water that tastes strange and irritates his throat. He expressed sadness to his friend Gibson and described the situation as a human rights violation.
The Miami Herald reported on July 13 that on the list of more than 700 people at or slated for the facility, only a third of the detainees have legal convictions, and more than 250 people have no criminal convictions or charges.
Rep. Frost said in a video posted after his July 12 visit to the camp that he heard the men chant, “¡Libertad!” The word means “freedom” in Spanish.
He also said he heard someone shout, “I am a U.S. citizen!”
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