Published on 6/30/2026
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Last update: 14:35 (Mecca time)
Amnesty International said that the authorities of the US state of Florida closed the immigration detention center known as the “Everglades Facility” or “Alligator Alcatraz”, after about a year of operating it in conditions that the organization described as “inhumane and degrading.”
The organization explained that the facility, nicknamed “The Crocodile” by detainees and human rights defenders, was opened in July 2025 to detain immigrants and asylum seekers, before the governor of Florida announced on June 25 its permanent closure after mounting pressure and widespread human rights criticism.
Amnesty International’s research concluded that the people who were detained there were subjected to arbitrary detention in “inhumane and unsanitary” conditions, with toilets overflowing with human waste that leaked into the detainees’ sleeping places, deprivation of showers except within limited limits, and exposure to insects without any means of protection.
She added that the lights were kept on 24 hours a day, with poor-quality food served, and an almost complete absence of privacy for detainees, due to the presence of cameras installed above the bathrooms, in addition to other practices that included restrictions, handcuffs, and deprivation of medical care and sleep.
Amnesty International indicated that the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” does not mean an end to the suffering of migrants and asylum seekers, as many detainees were transferred to other centers such as the “Krome” center in Florida, in the context of what the organization described as a “mass detention and deportation machine” run by the American immigration authorities.
The organization stated that immigration authorities are detaining more than 60,000 people in more than 100 facilities across the United States of America, while recording 31 deaths in detention centers during the year 2025, and 19 deaths in the first half of 2026, warning of deteriorating conditions for detainees with mass deportation policies.
The organization called on the US authorities to implement structural reforms, “dismantle the system of mass detention and deportation,” respect their obligations under international human rights law, and ensure that the violations it documented at the Alligator Alcatraz facility and other immigration detention centers are not repeated.
