LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: A new report from Amnesty International documents what the human rights organization calls cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment at two Florida immigration detention facilities - the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, and the state-run detention facility in the Everglades, best known as Alligator Alcatraz. Joining us to discuss the report's findings is Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA. Welcome to the program.
AMY FISCHER: Thank you for having me.
FADEL: So let's first talk about how you got to these findings. Did you have access to these detention facilities?
FISCHER: So ICE actually provided us access to the Krome facility, and while we were inside, we spoke to four individuals who were detained inside of Krome, who had also previously been detained at Alligator Alcatraz. And then, while we were in the area, we spoke with numerous lawyers and advocates and community members about the situation in Florida and inside both facilities.
FADEL: Specifically, what did you find at Krome, where you were actually able to see inside the facility, which is an actual ICE facility? Alligator Alcatraz is actually run by the state and not overseen by ICE.
FISCHER: Exactly. So at Krome, we heard from people inside that they are regularly denied medical care. They don't have adequate food. There is abuse by the guards. While we were actually inside, we were being allowed near the area where they have people in solitary confinement. And we were stopped by one of the individuals in solitary who said to us that he was on hunger strike. And when I bent down to speak to him through the food slot of his door, he was showing me his injured hand, how he had been denied medical care for well over 30 days. And in the midst of the conversation, an ICE agent actually slammed the metal flap on the injured hand of this individual and then repeatedly punched the door multiple times.
FADEL: And you requested access to Alligator Alcatraz. You did not receive a response. How did you get the findings you found about Alligator Alcatraz if you had no access?
FISCHER: We spoke with people that had been previously detained there. We also spoke with lawyers, with advocates and with family members who had loved ones detained inside. The descriptions of Alligator Alcatraz were truly harrowing. What we learned is that people there are detained in cages, over 30 people per cage, and only three toilets that oftentimes are broken and have sewage running into the sleeping areas. And most troubling, we heard about the use of something that is called the box, which was described to us as a 2-foot-by-2-foot cage-like structure in the open, and they are shackled at their hands and at their feet and chained to the ground in this cage in the sun for hours upon hours at a time, without access to food or water as a form of punishment.
FADEL: Did you take your findings to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE?
FISCHER: Yes. As part of all of Amnesty's reports, we send our findings to the respective agencies and provide them a right to reply. Neither the Department of Homeland Security, the government of Florida replied to those rights of reply.
FADEL: What recommendations are you making in your report about these two facilities?
FISCHER: Ultimately, these two facilities need to be shut down, and the people inside need to be released into their home communities. What we found at both facilities is that people are being detained arbitrarily. International law states that people should not be detained simply for immigration processing and should only be detained in the most extraordinary circumstances solely to provide identity or to mitigate flight risk.
FADEL: Amy Fischer is director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, and one of the authors of this report on conditions in two Florida detention centers. Thank you so much for your time.
FISCHER: Thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We reached out to the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about this, and press secretary Molly Best sent us a statement. In it, she calls the Amnesty report a, quote, "politically motivated attack" and adds, quote, "none of these fabrications are true." The statement also alleged the report could jeopardize the safety and security of our staff. We've also asked for comment from the Department of Homeland Security. We haven't heard back. And we will note that Amnesty International USA is a financial supporter of NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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