A group of detained illegal aliens held at the South Florida Reception Center, colloquially referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz,” have entered the tenth day of a hunger strike, protesting conditions at the facility while facing imminent deportation.
The detainees began refusing meals last week, citing complaints over sanitation, lighting, and food quality.
Officials have confirmed that deportation flights for individuals at the facility are now underway, even as legal disputes surrounding the treatment of detainees continue to escalate.
Among those participating in the hunger strike is Pedro Hernández, a Cuban national who entered the United States in 2006.
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He was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in July 2025 during a routine check-in in Miramar, Florida.
Hernández, who has previously served time in prison, was briefly hospitalized during the protest but has resumed the strike, according to his family and reports from inside the facility.
In a recorded call from detention, Hernández said, “We’ve all been hungry since Tuesday. I’m not going to eat another plate of food until they show us respect.”
His wife, Daimarys Hernández, spoke to NBC6 about his situation, stating, “My husband was in prison. We make mistakes, but we learn from them and fix things.”
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Additional allegations have surfaced from other detainees who describe conditions inside the facility as substandard. Leamsy “La Figura” Izquierdo, a Cuban artist who was previously held at the facility, told CBS News, “They only brought a meal once a day and it has maggots. They never take off the lights for 24 hours. The mosquitoes are as big as elephants.”
The South Florida Reception Center, located in a remote and humid region of the state, is the subject of multiple lawsuits on civil rights and environmental grounds.
Attorneys representing detainees claim they have been blocked from proper access to their clients and assert that basic constitutional protections are being undermined.
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Earlier this month, local news outlets reported that only one-third of the detainees held at the facility had previous criminal convictions, despite prior characterizations by officials suggesting the center primarily housed individuals with serious criminal backgrounds.
State officials have denied the accusations regarding the facility’s condition.
“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, director of communications for the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
According to the agency, the facility complies with all state and federal regulations for housing detainees and is equipped to manage medical, dietary, and hygiene needs in accordance with established guidelines.
FAKE NEWS.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 4, 2025
There is NO hunger strike at Alligator Alcatraz.
These false allegations about detention facilities vilify our brave ICE law enforcement who are already facing an 830% increase in assaults against them. pic.twitter.com/YfWOl8Y31p
The situation has drawn attention from advocacy organizations and legal observers, with several parties filing motions in court to obtain improved access to detainees and to halt deportations pending the outcome of those filings.
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This is very good news. It has the potential to save taxpayers the cost of transporting these criminals out of the country. Let ’em keep striking, then feed ’em to the ‘gators. Win-Win
The detainees want the liberal media to support their action; they are there in the holding place because they broke our laws, simple. I might say let them starve if that is what they choose to do; it is on them.
This story has to be true, because leftists never lie…
Sounds a lot better than what the J-6ers experienced for nearly 4years.
Okay, NOW you’re just crackin me up!
Hunger strike will reduce costs because less money spent to purchase food. Offer them PB &J…not eat it then refrigerate and offer it next meal. I bet it will keep for a week with no J making the bread mushy. You just have to provide it. Isn’t there a lot of commodity cheese in storage under federal control…offer them cheese.
Let them starve!
The illegals have the option to go back to where ever the hell they came from!
I’d suggest if they are unhappy enough to stop eating – we should move them up to the front of the line.
Kick out ALL of these grifting Marxist scum. They are NOT Americans. They never were.
Are these the same facilities that FL FEMA uses to house disaster relief people. Specifically the Power company lineman from nearby states
And this, I’ve been told, is why they went up and were in operation so quickly bec they are put up and operated every-time a hurricane is headed for the State
Why are we giving them access to the courts?
They didn’t use the due process we provided them to enter our country (legal immigration) so how come we are giving them due process now when they are fixing to be flown out of our country?
It’s called “The Lawyers Feasting & System Playing Program” designed by LAWYERS FOR THE BENEFIT OF LAWYERS .
You didn’t really think it had anything to do with pesky invaders, did you ? !!
The Government is full of LAWYERS – all paid up lawyers union members – used to even include the White House !!
Do it like Bobby Sands.
It’s ok, as long as the incarcerated criminal aliens have enough nutritional value for the Gators to stay healthy.
Maggots are very high in protein and are very nutritional.
Do it like Bobby Sands or be quiet.
Let ’em die.
That’s no way to treat Floridas’ Wildlife – ‘Gators have RIGHTS you know !! ;)
What else would you expect from the DEI/DNC Party and the hate Trump MSM??????
Good. That means when they are flown out, more individuals will be packed into transport planes because the individual weight load will be reduced. Win win
Starve all of them to death.
They are afraid of going back to Cuba or Venezuela where they will be in a Marxist prison where they will be lucky to get one meal every other day and get tortured and robbed. It will be like going from Motel 6 to a Norman Bates motel from hell. I had a friend that was jailed in South America and he said they had cannibalism due to lack of food. When he came out he looked like a death camp survivor.
He WAS !!
The gators might sue ICE for getting bones tossed to them with little to no meat on them. I say we feed them to the gators now while they still offer some nutrition to the hungry dinosaur era lizards.
In other news, the alligators have also started a hunger strike they wanna eat some illegals! They were promised three illegals a day each if they came to that island.
By the way, has anyone noticed that the freeways in LA are totally open during rush-hour we’ve never seen it like this. It’s like an apocalypse of people have left. I love it. On another note if anybody needs any emergency services, the emergency room is open and not filled for 15 hours there’s only four people in there when they’re not getting free healthcare from the taxpayers!
Asking for a friend that is a restaurant owner when are you gonna actually start arresting the illegal street vendors that are poaching in front of legal businesses that actually pay insurance payroll, etc. etc. etc.? I’m asking these pop-up tents of food for cash only are still there at every corner at night.
All this means is when they get home they are going to be very hungry. Better eat up where there’s still food boys!
Why are we feeding them at all? Put ‘em on a plane now. With no inflight meals, they have taken enough.
Cry me a river. If you don’t like jail then obey the law.
Hasta la vista!
Ah yes, the old “maggots in my food” lamentation.
These are the same “compassionate left” idiots who thought it was (and is) perfectly fine for our fine military to live in even worse conditions while deployed accross the world fighting wars to line the pockets of the elites. Ask ANYONE deployed to the middle east over the last 23 years what conditions were like. Only the water in your canteen, c-rations, baby wipe baths, no running water, burn pits, hella temperatures and little or no A/C. It’s ok for citizens who are serving this great nation but even better conditions are “unacceptable” for illegal entrants?
They can also volunteer for self deportation and would be free to do whatever they want in their HOME country. which saves our taxpayers money also