by Greg Mullaley and Pierce Butler
Florida recently became (even more) notorious for the jury-rigged concentration camp known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” at present under a closure order from a federal judge, which our governor and state attorney general are appealing. (See page 16.) So of course the state has doubled down by planning to create another detention center — in Sanderson, about 40 miles north of Gainesville.
Gov. DeSantis proposes re-opening the Baker County Correctional Institution, which had about 1,300 beds, for up to 2,000 of the many detainees being scooped up by masked ICE agents across the nation. (White House aide Stephen Miller demands that the US deport 3,000 “illegal aliens” per day.)
Most of those seized so far, without warrants, criminal records, or other apparent reasons except for dark skin and/or Spanish accents, have been denied hearings, contact with lawyers or family members, or the other due process rights required by the US Constitution.
As with the hastily-fabricated cages and tents in the Everglades, the governor seems to plan on “massive, taxpayer-funded no-bid contracts to politically connected businesses and corporate elite donors,” in the words of Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, to create and operate this “Deportation Depot” holding tank.
Widespread public protests have (temporarily?) derailed previously-announced plans to do the same at Camp Blanding (around 30 miles from Gainesville). Many detainees are already incarcerated at Macclenny’s Baker County Detention Center in atrocious conditions, as reported in the Nov-Dec 2022 Iguana by Baker Interfaith Friends (tinyurl.com/Iguana2244); the Baker County Sheriff’s Office has restricted visits by families and supporters of those confined there.
Eager to please the Trump administration, the xenophobic “Project 2025” agenda which it follows, and the chronically angry GOP base, DeSantis and state Attorney General James Uthmeier show no qualms in trampling the rights of all those in the United States, citizens or not, to expand the Incarceration Nation built up over decades of “law and order” panic. Currently, the U.S. has over 1.8 million people behind bars, more than any other nation. This includes over 59,000 ICE detainees spread across at least 119 facilities. ICE now has a budget of $45 billion to construct more internment camps.
The New York Times reports at least 180,000 have been deported so far this year.
On top of this, ICE is now hiring another 10,000 agents to help kidnap our immigrant friends and neighbors off the streets right in front of us. It has lowered its recruitment standards drastically, offering enlistment bonuses of up to $50,000 while visibly operating violently and lawlessly on city streets from Los Angeles to the District of Columbia.
ICE agents use face masks and unmarked vehicles while grabbing pedestrians, drivers, workers, churchgoers, and schoolchildren for looking “suspicious” in the eyes of propagandized bigots.
We don’t have to sit back and let it happen. We can help our immigrant friends and neighbors by giving a little of our time, and if possible, money to local groups that are working to make lives better for these good folks.
You can contact the Baker Interfaith Friends (tinyurl.com/iguana9359), the Rural Women’s Health Project (rwhp.org), and the Greater Gainesville International Center (GGIC) (gnvic.org) and ask what you can do to help the unjustly arrested and refugees who are needy. Simple things people can do on their own to help immigrants include shopping at immigrant-owned stores, volunteering to teach ESL, organizing car pools to drive children of immigrants to school (in case ICE is waiting at schools to arrest immigrant parents). Here are some sites that give direct info on how to help that you can take examples from:
globalgiving.org/learn/help-immigration-in-2025
tinyurl.com/iguana9360 (huffpost)
globalcitizen.org/en/content/7-ways-to-help-undocumented-immigrants
To fight back politically, many options exist, including Florida Immigration Coalition (floridaimmigrant.org), United We Dream (unitedwedream.org), the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)