Florida Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman is demanding Florida Attorney James Uthmeier respond to a range of questions she raises about the state's "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in the Everglades.
In a letter sent Friday to Uthmeier, Berman, a Democrat from Boynton Beach, raises questions about Gov. Ron DeSantis using emergency powers to take over the airport managed by Miami-Dade County, the environmental impact of the facility and its eventual costs to Florida taxpayers. She also questioned the legality of housing suspected undocumented immigrants in a "makeshift prison camp."
The letter, first reported by POLITICO Florida, outlines 10 questions for Uthmeier. It was also sent to the governor and Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the construction of the immigration detention center.
"This makeshift prison camp has the potential to be a disaster for both the State of Florida and the detainees forced to reside there," she wrote. "The costs and impact of such a facility have yet to be studied, and as you waited to announce this project until we adjourned legislative session Sine Die, the legislature has had no chance to exercise our oversight function.
"Most importantly, setting up a makeshift prison camp in the Everglades has the potential to expose detainees — many of whom may have done nothing wrong, especially with the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status — to conditions that could constitute cruel and unusual punishment."
"We know that this is really just a political theater-type event where they are trying to get attention on this issue," Berman said during an interview Sunday by "This Week in South Florida" host Glenna Milberg.
READ MORE: Environmental groups sue to block migrant detention center rising in Florida Everglades
Florida officials have moved swiftly in the past week to build the compound dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" within the Everglades' humid swamplands. Construction is already underway and it's set to open on Tuesday.
The government fast-tracked the project under emergency powers from an executive order issued by DeSantis that addresses what he views as a crisis of illegal immigration. That order lets the state sidestep certain purchasing laws and is why construction has continued despite objections from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and local activists.
The facility will have temporary structures like heavy-duty tents and trailers to house detained immigrants. DeSantis told Fox & Friends on Friday during a tour of the site that it will house as many as 3,000 suspected undocumented immigrants.
Backers of the location in the Florida wetlands — teeming with massive reptiles like alligators and invasive Burmese pythons — say it's an ideal spot for immigration detention.
"Clearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there's a lot of alligators," DeSantis said Wednesday. "No one's going anywhere."
Under DeSantis, Florida has made an aggressive push for immigration enforcement and has been supportive of the President Donald Trump's broader crackdown on illegal immigration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has backed "Alligator Alcatraz," which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said will be partially funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit on Friday to block it from being built.
The lawsuit seeks to halt the project until it undergoes a stringent environmental review as required by federal law. There is also supposed to be a chance for public comment, according to the lawsuit filed in Miami federal court.
"The hasty transformation of the site into a mass detention facility, which includes the installation of housing units, construction of sanitation and food services systems, industrial high-intensity lighting infrastructure, diesel power generators, substantial fill material altering the natural terrain, and provision of transportation logistics (including apparent planned use of the runway to receive and deport detainees) poses clear environmental impacts," the lawsuit said.
"The defendants, in their rush to build the center, have unlawfully bypassed the required environmental reviews. The direct and indirect harm to nearby wetlands, wildlife and air and water quality, and feasible alternatives to the action, must be considered under NEPA (a federal law known as the National Environmental Policy Act) before acting."
Copyright 2025 WLRN Public Media