MIAMI – Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation has introduced legislation aimed at shutting down the controversial immigration detention center in the Everglades.
Dubbed the “No Cages in the Everglades Act,” the six-page bill is led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. It aims to ban the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating or funding the detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz, or any other “immigration detention facility located within or adjacent to the Everglades ecosystem.”
The bill also seeks to increase transparency and federal oversight of immigration detention centers nationwide.
“Trump and Ron DeSantis have exploited legal ambiguity around this Everglades internment camp to avoid any scrutiny of abuses there,” said Wasserman Schultz in an statement. “Our bill would shut down this atrocity, strengthen oversight of detention facilities nationwide, and mandate public reporting on costs, conditions, and the treatment of detainees, as well as report on any harms to the environment and nearby tribal lands.”
Wasserman Schultz is joined by fellow Florida Democrats Reps. Kathy Castor, Frederica Wilson, Lois Frankel, Darren Soto, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Maxwell Frost and Jared Moskowitz. The bill is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The facility – operated and funded by Florida’s state government, with the expectation of federal reimbursement – has drawn sharp criticism from environmental advocates, Miccosukee tribal leaders and human rights groups, who call it both inhumane and ecologically disastrous. Multiple reports allege detainees are being held in unsafe, unsanitary conditions without access to clean water, medical care or legal support. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, which is overseeing the detention center, says those stories are false.
The detention center sits on an airstrip on the edge of the Big Cypress National Preserve, a protected wilderness area that is home to endangered species.
The bill coincides with a rapidly growing MoveOn Civic Action petition demanding the immediate closure of the Everglades detention camp. The petition has now surpassed 43,000 signatures, amplifying public pressure on state and federal officials.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick emphasized the broader moral stakes of the legislation.
“No one should be subjected to unsafe, degrading treatment, and we cannot meet these injustices with silence or symbolic gestures. We have a moral responsibility to act decisively,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “Every person in our custody deserves dignity, safety, and basic human rights.”
The legislation has garnered support from major human rights and immigration organizations, including the ACLU, Detention Watch Network, Church World Service and the National Immigration Law Center.
The bill comes just days after Wasserman Schultz, Moskowitz and Frost visited the facility alongside Florida state representatives. The visit followed complaints by detainees and attorneys about conditions inside and a lack of transparency. During the visit, Frost said they were denied permission to speak with any detainees, without explanation. Republicans who took the tour said the facility was clean and properly run.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
