Miami's top Catholic leader denounces 'intentionally provocative' Alligator Alcatraz

Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald on Jul 11, 2025

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The Archbishop of Miami has some strong words about Florida’s new detention center for migrants in the Everglades.

In a statement posted to the Archdiocese of Miami website, Archbishop Thomas Wenski condemned Alligator Alcatraz, calling it “alarming” and “unbecoming of public officials.”

“It is alarming to see enforcement tactics that treat all irregular immigrants as dangerous criminals,” he wrote.

Wenski, Miami’s top Catholic leader, also criticized the rhetoric surrounding the facility calling it “intentionally provocative” and “corrosive of the common good.”

“It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of ‘alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility,” Wenski wrote.

Located in an idle airstrip near the Big Cypress National Preserve that the DeSantis administration seized from Miami-Dade County using emergency powers, the detention facility is surrounded by wildlife and wild lands, which officials have joked could deter undocumented immigrants from escaping.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said in the past that the location — a hot, swampy environment filled with alligators and pythons — could send a message to undocumented immigrants.

“They ain’t going anywhere once they are there... because good luck getting to civilization,” DeSantis said at a news conference when the facility first opened last month. He then quipped: “The security is amazing. Natural and otherwise.”

Wenski, in the statement, also criticized the conditions of the facility, raising concerns about the isolated location, which is far from hospitals, and the ability of the “temporary tent structures” to withstand extreme Florida temperatures and thunderstorms.

A recent story from the Miami Herald outlined the harsh conditions of the facility, including pests, extreme temperatures and unsanitary living conditions. The testimonies were relayed to the Herald by the detainees’ families, though the state contends they aren’t accurate.

The DeSantis administration has pushed back on the criticism, telling CNN that the same tents have been used to house those displaced by natural disasters and can withstand Florida’s extreme elements.

DeSantis, who is a Catholic, recently told Fox News, that the temporary facility is meant to be a center to process and deport illegal immigrants, and that the quality is being exaggerated by his political opponents.

“We did not create the Four Seasons, that’s not the intent of this.” DeSantis told Fox News.

“Alligator Alcatraz is going to enhance the ability of the federal government to do more deportations of illegal aliens and that’s what people want to see. That’s what a lot of us voted for,” he said.

Wenski’s criticism of the detention facility, which was built in eight days and expected to cost $450 million for one year of operation, is joined by Democratic lawmakers in Florida and environmental advocacy groups.

On Thursday, five Democratic lawmakers sued the governor and others after being turned away from Alligator Alcatraz last week. The lawmakers are asking the Florida Supreme Court to force the DeSantis administration to allow unannounced visits to the migrant detention center in the Everglades.

Catholic bishops have long been advocates for reforming the United States’ “broken” immigration system, Wenski wrote in the statement. He added that “most immigrants are hardworking and honest and only want to build a hopeful future for themselves and their families.”

Wenski also suggested that it would be more “financially sensible” to “expand legal pathways for non-criminal migrants,” rather than continue the current process under the Trump administration, which is costing billions of dollars to deport people “who are already contributing positively to our nation’s well-being,” he wrote.

In the statement, Wenski pleaded for people to remember their humanity when thinking about the detainees, the majority of whom are not violent criminals.

“Common decency requires that we remember the individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” he said.

Wenski concluded by asking people to pray for the government officials and those in immigration custody and their families. He asked people to pray for justice in a nation “whose prosperity immigrants have always contributed to.”

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