Immigrants held in small outdoor cages at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in Florida, investigators find
DHS inspectors say they found the immigration-detention centre violated basic standards for hygiene, medical care, food and safety.
Immigrants confined in small outdoor cages at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” investigators discover
Immigrants held at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a detention centre in Florida that has now been shut down, were kept for hours in small metal cages, according to a report from the US Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said the outdoor cages, measuring about 18sq ft (1.67sq m), were “unprecedented among detention facilities” and posed a danger.
Investigators found that the centre also failed to meet several standards covering hygiene, medical care, food, health and safety.
DHS told the watchdog that state officials operated the facility.
In its reply included in the investigation report, DHS officials said Florida — not the federal government — had control over day-to-day operations at the site.
The facility was created by the state of Florida under an executive order signed by DeSantis, while the federal government covered operational costs.
In January, the OIG carried out an unannounced inspection at the detention centre, which had become one of the most notorious immigration detention facilities in the US. The OIG is an independent internal watchdog at DHS. The current inspector general was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term.
In 2025, the detention centre was constructed in eight days in the Everglades, a protected wetland known for its alligators. Trump once joked that immigrants held there would have to learn “how to run away” from the reptiles at the facility, which civil rights groups have condemned as inhumane.
In June 2026, DeSantis said the facility would close because it was only intended to be temporary.
According to the OIG report, from July 2025 to January 2026, the facility held 79 immigrants in the small metal enclosures, calling them “calming areas” for people to “deescalate and have time alone.” OIG said they were kept there for periods ranging from minutes to nearly two hours, and at least once as a disciplinary measure.
“The use of such restrictive spaces is highly unconventional and does not align with standards for humane treatment,” the report said.
Detainees at the facility have previously told the BBC they were denied needed medication and regular showers, along with other hygiene measures.
In the report, OIG inspectors said they found immigrants held at the facility had to use showers infested with small bugs and were allowed to shower only three times a week.
The facility did not give them enough living space, “creating cramped conditions for detainees who spent most of their time in their housing units,” according to the report.
Immigrants at the centre also told OIG that they did not have access to clean drinking water and were unable to clean the plastic cups they drank from.