Hundreds of migrants disappear from ICE database at Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz facility

Hundreds of migrants detained at the Alligator Alcatraz migrant processing center, west of Miami in the US, appear to have disappeared.

According to immigrant rights advocacy groups, these individuals have been deleted from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) online database, and their lawyers and families have been unable to locate them.

For example, Luis Sorto from the Sanctuary of the South network, which provides legal services and is part of a lawsuit against the government regarding restrictions on attorney access for detainees at the notorious migrant prison, stated, “When searching for individuals detained there, the ICE locator now says, ‘Call the Florida Department of Corrections for details.’”

Sorto added that all plaintiffs held at the center were transferred elsewhere after a new lawsuit was filed in August challenging Florida’s authority to detain individuals there. This lawsuit also noted that the detainees were not appearing in ICE’s tracking system.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit, described Alligator Alcatraz as a “black hole,” stating that some individuals are “lost,” not appearing on the immigration system’s “radar,” and that “their lawyers and families often do not know where they are or how to contact them.”

Eunice Cho, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Prison Project, told EL PAÍS that ICE’s “persistent refusal” to promptly update detainee locations creates a significant obstacle to effective attorney-client communication, undermines the principle of due process, and is another indicator of the cruelty of the detention system.

According to a report by the Miami Herald, approximately 800 detainees were no longer visible in ICE’s online database by late August, and the locations of 450 detainees were unspecified, displaying the message, “Call ICE for details,” instead.

In August, a judge ruled that the state must close the camp following a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe, but an appellate court stayed that decision, allowing the center to continue operating while the case proceeds.

However, following the ruling, a state official said the facility would be emptied within days, and authorities stated they were transferring detainees to other facilities, including some in Florida flagged by human rights organizations for poor conditions and others outside the state.

Reports indicate that the number of individuals detained here has significantly decreased.

Meanwhile, it is unclear how many people have been deported from the facility or transferred to other migrant detention centers. Some detainees told the Miami Herald that officials pressured them to accept voluntary deportation.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced at the end of July that approximately 100 people had been deported from the facility.

Alex Solomiany, an immigration attorney in Miami, told the Miami Herald that he went to see a client at the immigration court in the Krome detention center, southwest of Miami, only to learn that his client had been mistakenly deported to Guatemala.

Solomiany told EL PAÍS that his client remains in Guatemala and that he is “working with ICE” to obtain parole that would allow him to return to the US.

Other lawyers say they must schedule appointments three days in advance to meet with clients in person at Alligator Alcatraz.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated in an email, “The number of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz is constantly changing as they are deported or transferred to ICE detention centers for further removal proceedings,” and “all detainees have the ability to communicate with their lawyers and family members.”

DHS added, “ICE’s goal is to remove illegal immigrants from the country as quickly as possible.”

Alligator Alcatraz was built in just over a week on a former airstrip in the Everglades, the vast wetlands west of Miami. President Donald Trump endorsed the facility with a visit for its opening ceremony in early July, and it began accepting detainees almost immediately.

Allegations of poor hygiene, food, and mistreatment emerged shortly thereafter. The facility is operated by the Florida Department of Emergency Management. The state has established another migrant detention center in the northern part of the peninsula, in a former men’s prison, which it has named Deportation Depot.