Civil rights lawyers are trying to land a temporary restraining order against Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center, alleging that detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated.
The lawyers claimed during a virtual hearing in Miami federal court Monday that detainees at the Trump administration’s prized detention facility have been denied legal counsel, have had their bond hearings canceled, and are being held without charges.
Eunice Cho, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, called it an “emergency situation.”
“Officers at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ are going around trying to force people to sign deportation orders without the ability to speak to counsel,” she said.
Monday’s hearing addressed a July 16 lawsuit filed by civil rights lawyers that stated that it was “virtually impossible” for attorneys to get in contact with detainees, let alone contest their detention in immigration court.
“The government’s restrictions on attorney-client communication at Alligator Alcatraz inhibit detainees’ ability to meaningfully access and communicate with legal counsel, impinge upon attorney-client privilege, and violate detainees’ constitutional rights under the First Amendment,” the suit read.
“These restrictions also violate the Organizational Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to speak to their clients,” it added. “The government’s restrictions on detainees’ ability to file documents and motions with the immigration court violate the Fifth Amendment right to due process.”
The attorneys noted that lawyers have been unable to file bond petitions for detainees because the immigration court has no jurisdiction over their clients.
The suit added that detainees then “effectively have no way to contest their detention.”
As such, the civil rights lawyers demanded that state and federal officials find an immigration court that had jurisdiction over their clients.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz said during Monday’s hearing that his job was only to address any proven constitutional violations, warning that any “attempts to transform the court into the warden of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is not going to happen here.”
He didn’t come to a decision by the end of the hearing and instead asked the attorneys to refile their complaint as a request for a preliminary injunction.
He set the next in-person court hearing for Aug. 18.
Nicholas Meros, an attorney representing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also claimed that things have changed in the dozen days since the suit was filed.
He said that video-conference rooms had been set up for detainees to speak to their attorneys and that the center had started providing in-person meetings between the attorneys and their clients.
“Alligator Alcatraz” has already been under fire for its alleged “inhumane” conditions, according to detainees and their family members.
These included limited meals covered in maggots, lights that remain on for 24 hours, and mosquitos and bugs in cells.
State officials have denied these allegations.
This is the second lawsuit targeting “Alligator Alcatraz,” the first coming from environmental groups that wanted to halt construction of the facility because it didn’t follow federal and state environmental laws.
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