Wednesday’s hearing opened at 9 am with the presidency of Judge Kathleen M. Williams.
Eve Samples, the executive director of Friends of the Everglades, a non -profit organization dedicated to preserving the Everglades and one of the parties that filed the demand, said that more than 40,000 people presented their website to oppose the detention center.
“We are very concerned about the possible impacts of runoff”, as well as “large and large industrial style lights that are visible at 15 miles away, although they have a designation of dark sky,” Samples told the court.
“Driving there many times, the increase in traffic is visible, I saw two dead gattors the last time I visited, so definitely a difference in the area,” he added.
Leaving environmental concerns aside, “Alcatraz” has been in the headlines of a variety of other alleged violations.
The detainees supposedly have been forbidden to meet with their lawyers and are arrested without charges, according to civil rights lawyers seeking a temporary restriction order against the installation.
The center has also raised human rights concerns with the conditions described as horrible, including units similar to the cage full of mosquitoes, unhealthy conditions and lack of food and reliable medical treatment, according to legal and family defenders of immigrant detainees.
NBC Miami has also reported about the accusations of detainees and family members of “inhuman conditions”: limited access to showers, spoiled foods, extreme heat and mosquito infestations.
“They have no sunlight. There is no clock there. They do not even know what time of the day it is. They have no access to the showers. They show themselves every two days or every four days,” said a former correction officer, identified in the NBC Miami report as Lindsey.
The State has denied these statements. The DHS spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, rejected all accusations of inhuman conditions in “Aligator Alcatraz” and in immigration detention centers throughout the country.
“All detainees receive appropriate meals, medical treatment and have opportunities to communicate with their relatives and lawyers. Ensure the security, safety and well -being of people under our custody is a priority,” McLaughlin told NBC News last month.
