Detainees at Florida's Alligator Alcatraz allege guards unleashed tear gas and beat migrants during a violent crackdown on a protest inside the facility. Phone calls to Miami-based Spanish-language station Noticias 23 carried the claims as federal authorities work to empty the camp ahead of its court-ordered closure. Witnesses said the confrontation began when migrants shouted for freedom after a detainee learned of a relative's death, with fire alarms ringing nonstop and helicopters circling overhead. Florida's division of emergency management rejected the allegations as fantasy and said detainees were kept in clean, safe living conditions. A federal judge ordered the site closed within 60 days, citing environmental breaches and denying delay requests.
(Rebecca Blackwell/AP photo) Detainees at Florida's notorious Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center have reportedly accused guards of unleashing tear gas and beating them during what they described as a violent crackdown on a protest inside the facility. The claims, aired in phone calls to Miami-based Spanish-language station Noticias 23, come just as federal authorities work to empty the camp ahead of its court-ordered closure.
The confrontation began when migrants shouted for freedom after a detainee learned of a relative's death, according to the accounts. Witnesses reported a fire alarm ringing nonstop and helicopters circling overhead. Right now, it's unrest, one detainee told Noticias 23. Everyone here has been beaten up, many people have bled, brother, tear gas. We are immigrants, we are not criminals, we are not murderers.
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