'If You Can Keep It': "Alligator Alcatraz" And Due Process

Published August 5, 2025 at 9:30 AM EDT

U.S. President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tour a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida.

The controversial immigration detention center — dubbed by Florida officials and the Trump administration, "Alligator Alcatraz"-- has already hit some legal snags since opening earlier this month.

Civil rights groups are suing the Trump administration over due process complaints. The lawsuit alleges detainees are being held without charges and aren't being given access to their attorneys.

It comes after reports of overcrowded cells, overflowing toilets, and no access to prescription medications.

The center was constructed in only eight days at an airport in the Everglades. Three weeks after it opened, around 100 people have already been deported straight from the center.

What are the legal rights of those held in immigration detention centers? And what is happening inside the one in the Everglades, specifically?

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