#immigration

I must confess I am discouraged by the alarming countercurrent in US discourse, pushing back on the idea that "Alligator Alcatraz" is an "actual" concentration camp. Some of this is fascist ideological flak, some is "enlightened centrists" whistling past the graveyard, and some of this is even coming from cynical folks on the left who know enough about the American carceral industrial complex to confidently (and to be fair, correctly) state America had "concentration camps" long before Trump. Frankly however I can think of few things less productive than entering into a semantic debate about the wholly accurate term concentration camp; I thought it might be better to just talk about the horrifying observed conditions inside Alligator Alcatraz instead, and let reasonable folks figure it out for themselves. To that end I want to share two stories about the same highly-controlled visit to Alligator Alcatraz by 3 Dem politicians, that each focus on different aspects of why I think the term fits and disputing the characterization borders on apologia. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/14/alligator-alcatraz-lawsuits Hundreds of detainees with no criminal charges sent to Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ "The notorious new “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail in the Florida Everglades contains hundreds of detainees with no criminal records or charges, it was disclosed on Sunday, as lawmakers decried “inhumane” conditions inside after touring the facility. Donald Trump has insisted that the remote camp in swamp land populated by pythons and alligators was reserved for immigrants who were “deranged psychopaths” and “some of the most vicious people on the planet” awaiting deportation. But at least one detainee shouted out to politicians during Saturday’s visit that he was a US citizen, the Democratic Florida congressman Maxwell Frost said. And the Miami Herald obtained and published a list of 700 people held in cages showing that at least 250 had committed no offense other than a civil immigration violation." So let's briefly touch on the important revelations in this article. First of all immigration officials are purposely obscuring the numbers and identities of detainees in the camp. Florida politicians are also lying about who runs the camp, which is clearly ICE, to deny opposition (Democrat) oversight of the facility. Please keep in mind that this is in addition to the migrant cages being located in a remote area in the Florida Everglades, far away from the prying eyes of the media and making official oversight all the more difficult. Furthermore, Trump and regime officials who are justifying keeping migrants in appalling conditions that amount to a concentration camp by saying only the worst types of criminals are being held at Alligator Alcatraz, are once again lying; as I stated repeatedly in prior articles hundreds of people in the camp are simply in the US without permission, which as the article notes is a civil violation, not a criminal charge - let alone a violent one. So, can you articulate what perfectly innocent reason a fascist government might have for building a semi-secret migrant cage complex, demonizing all the brown inhabitants as violent criminals even though many of them have committed no crimes, and are actively working to hide what is actually going on inside Alligator Alcatraz from media, regulators, and opposition officials? Yeah, me neither. Now let's take a look at the conditions the 3 Dem politicians were allowed to see despite the regime's efforts to hide occupied cages from them: https://www.commondreams.org/news/alligator-alcatraz-lawmakers-visit 'This Is an Internment Camp': Lawmakers Horrified by Inhumane Conditions in 'Alligator Alcatraz' "Wasserman-Schultz described it as an "internment camp" where detainees are "essentially packed into cages." "Wall-to-wall humans. 32 detainees per cage," she said. This, she noted, is unusual for immigration facilities, like the nearby Krome detention center in Miami-Dade County, where detainees are allowed to roam freely between buildings." Whatever I think of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as a politician, it is inarguable that she's objectively describing a type of concentration camp. With dozens of brown bodies packed into small cages, inadequate access to washroom facilities and water, purposely reduced caloric counts inadequate for the preservation of healthy adults, exposure to elements and insects; what exactly would you call it? It's not an accident Wasserman-Schultz references America's dark history with the term "interment camps" but I think she's still being too generous to the Trump regime here; this is a camp of cages for cruelty concentrating migrants without any concern for their wellbeing at all - a concentration camp if you will. Folks, this is not a question of semantics. This is a concentration camp, for brown people, on US soil and word games aren't going to stop the nightmare we're speeding towards now. #Fascism #Trump #DHS #AlligatorAlcatraz #Noem #EthnicCleansing #Immigration #ConcentrationCamps

At this point, I think we're probably still a long way from identifying the full web of influence, corruption, and misappropriation of resources behind Governor Ron DeSantis' concentration camp in the Florida Everglades, the obnoxiously named "Alligator Alcatraz." As such I'm going to keep this post pretty brief; more or less to keep the issue on our radar as more information emerges. With that caveat noted however, this Talking Points Memo article talks about the outlet's extremely nascent investigation into how DeSantis built the concentration camp, who paid for it, and who profits from it. Would it surprise you to learn that Florida's fascist governor is using a fake "emergency" to make this monstrous bullshit happen, the money trail is a hot mess, and Florida taxpayers are going to be the folks footing the bill for Ron's nazi apology to Downmarket Mussolini? Yeah, it didn't surprise me either. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/contracts-desantis-alligator-alcatraz Contracts Show Millions of Dollars and Diverted Disaster Resources Were Used to Build DeSantis’ ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ "TPM has obtained and analyzed over a dozen contracts and invoices related to the construction and operation of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention camp in the Everglades. The documents identify eight previously undisclosed companies — including two firms with a Fortune 500 pedigree — involved with the controversial facility. They also show that, in at least one instance, resources allocated for the state’s “disaster preparedness” apparatus were diverted to the site as DeSantis’ office used emergency powers to quickly establish the camp, causing a shortfall that needs to be addressed during the ongoing hurricane season." I must confess that part of me feels like I'm insulting my readers' intelligence when I remind folks, over and over again, that nightmare concentration camps for migrants, many of whom are guilty of nothing more than a civil violation, would be an unacceptable eliminationist outrage even if nobody was profiteering from it and it cost the public coffers zero dollars. In the grand scheme of things the lies, corruption, and misappropriation of public funds are a side story compared to the fact that we've just opened a real as fuck concentration camp in a remote part of Florida and there are already reports of widespread human rights abuses and unsafe conditions emerging mere weeks after "Alligator Alcratraz" opened. With that having been said, informed observers must know by now that the rich nazis running the larger American fascist movement do have designs on profiting from fascist repression, ethnic cleansing, and the migrant carceral complex - and projects like Alligator Alcatraz demonstrate how that odious business functions. If you want to know the names of the eleven companies already identified as working with the government of Florida to make this eliminationist bullshit possible, who is getting paid for what, and how many of the folks directly profiting from this are DeSantis donors (there are several) I recommend you just read the article. The short version here however is that like Trump, DeSantis has declared "an alarming number of migrants in Florida" to be a state level crisis, he then used emergency powers to divert a bunch of money, including from disaster prevention and relief funding in a state notorious for having a "hurricane season," to build a fucking concentration camp surrounded by alligators as a make up gift for his ally and former GOP nomination opponent, President Trump. Along the way a bunch of very shitty companies are raking in the money for substandard work, and the entire DeSantis administration is working overtime to keep as much of this as possible a complete secret from anyone who might be in a position to conduct any oversight on this genocidal nazi boondoggle. Think "Halliburton in post-Saddam Iraq" but on a smaller scale. #Fascism #Trump #RonDeSantis #AlligatorAlcatraz #Racism #ConcentrationCamp #MigrantRights #Immigration #EthnicCleansing #Corruption #Graft #Bribery #Eliminationism #EthnoNationalism #Investigation

"Across three independent national polls conducted within days of one another—the NPR/PBS/Marist survey, the Economist/YouGov poll, and Quinnipiac University’s national poll—his job approval remains stalled in the high-30s to around 40 percent, with a clear majority disapproving." ~ Brian Daitzman #Trump #Epstein #immigration #economy #ApprovalRating /4 https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-public-has-reached-a-breaking

"While the precise figures vary slightly depending on methodology and sample, the convergence itself is the signal: Trump remains underwater nationally, deeply unpopular among Democrats, losing independents by wide margins, and sustained politically almost entirely by a still-loyal Republican base, according to all three instruments." #Trump #Epstein #immigration #economy #ApprovalRating /5