FORT MYERS, Fla. – Alligator Alcatraz, a state-run immigration detention center in the Everglades, is still open and holding people set for deportation. An appellate court put a hold on a previous order to shut it down.

Attorneys representing several detainees in a lawsuit against the facility have filed a motion in federal court. They want a federal judge from Fort Myers to make a surprise visit to the facility. The attorneys are asking for the court to “be provided access to all areas of the facility and to be able to confidentially interview as many detained individuals who are willing to meet with the court as possible.”

The state’s attorneys object, saying a federal judge doesn’t have the authority to inspect a state facility and that a visit would pose a security risk.

Eva Ducasse, whose husband is detained at Alligator Alcatraz, shared her concerns about the conditions there. She said, “A lot of people think it’s closed and don’t really know what’s going on there.”

Ducasse spoke with us at our WINK Listens event in Immakolee last week.

Ducasse’s husband, Abeidi Ducasse Ceballos, has been awaiting deportation at the facility for the past 20 days. She described the conditions, based on her husband’s account, as inhumane, saying, “It is a literal dog cage, they are under a tarp, and there’s 31 men to one pod, tiny pod he says he can’t even pace around.”

She said it’s not just the conditions concerning her but an alleged lack of communication from the government on where her husband may be deported.

She said initially they were told Mexico, but recently the country stopped accepting deportees of Cuban origin. 

Eva, a U.S. citizen, plans to follow her husband wherever he may be deported. She said, “I told him I’m not going to abandon you, I am going to pack my things up and go be with you wherever that may be.”

WINK News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about the claims of poor conditions. DHS responded, calling such claims a hoax and stating, “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”

As of now, the judge has not ruled on the request for a surprise visit to the facility. Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.