Overview

• Alligator Alcatraz opened in early July on a former airstrip in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve and now holds around 700 migrants in tents and containers surrounded by alligator- and python-infested wetlands.
• Two Italian citizens, dual national Fernando Eduardo Artese and Gaetano Cateno Mirabella Costa, were transferred there on July 3 and July 9 respectively while awaiting deportation orders.
• In interviews with the Tampa Bay Times, Artese and other detainees described the facility as “a concentration camp,” citing systematic humiliation and substandard living conditions.
• The Italian Consulate in Miami and the Embassy in Washington are in regular contact with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations to track the men’s health and press for expedited return to Italy.
• Operated under ICE-ERO jurisdiction, the remote site has limited direct access for diplomats, fueling legal and humanitarian concerns over oversight and communications.