DHS watchdog finds immigrants held at 'Alligator Alcatraz' in outdoor cages the size of phone booths

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Add to Google Report finds 'Alligator Alcatraz' held immigrants in cages the size of phone booths 02:56 Get more news on Share Add NBC News to Google Sept. 14, 2026, 9:39 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 14, 2026, 1:31 PM EDT By Laura Strickler , Justin Goldman and Julia Ainsley WASHINGTON - Some immigrants detained at Florida's now-shuttered "Alligator Alcatraz" were confined in outdoor cages only slightly larger than telephone booths for more than an hour at a time, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.

The watchdog report marks the first time a government agency has confirmed the existence of the cramped cages at the South Florida Detention Facility. Amnesty International found in a report published in December, based on interviews with detainees and a tour of the facility, that the cages were used to punish detainees and amounted to torture, sparking a congressional probe .

The inspector general's findings don't go as far, but the report says "the use of such restrictive spaces is highly unconventional and does not align with standards for humane treatment."

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The DHS watchdog findings are a rare instance when a federal inspector general has publicly criticized the Trump administration. Since he returned to office in 2025, President Donald Trump has fired at least 18 inspectors general , who operate within federal agencies but are tasked with conducting objective audits and investigating allegations of waste, fraud and abuse of power.

DHS IG inspectors visited the facility in January as part of its Congressional mandate to inspect detention facilities. The inspector general's report found the "small metal enclosures" were roughly 4-by-4, or 16 square feet, and facility staff members described them as "calming areas" for "detainees to de-escalate and have time alone."

The facility also had indoor cages that measured 18 square feet, the report says.

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The cages are less than half the size of the smallest spaces that people are supposed to be held at immigration detention facilities. ICE guidelines say rooms designed to hold one person at a time should be a minimum of 37 square feet. By comparison, solitary confinement cells at federal prisons are around 84 square feet.

The detention facility, which Florida's attorney general dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, opened in July 2025 in the Everglades and was built by Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration . It was part of a state and federal partnership known as a 287(g) agreement , which allows state and local law enforcement agencies to carry out special immigration enforcement duties, which are otherwise a federal responsibility.

ICE is to provide oversight "to ensure compliance with federal immigration law and ICE policies," and immigration enforcement activities will be "supervised and directed by ICE," according to 287(g) agreements between Florida agencies and ICE, which were filed in court documents in a lawsuit over the existence of the facility.

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Homeland Security denied that it had authority over day-to-day operations at the facility, writing in a signed response from the DHS undersecretary of management and the acting director of ICE to the inspector general's report that ICE didn't have a contract with the state of Florida to run Alligator Alcatraz. Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, also wrote that the 287(g) agreement doesn't give the federal government authority over the physical operations of any detention facility.

Some immigrant detainees held at Florida's now-shuttered "Alligator Alcatraz" were confined for up to two hours inside outdoor cages only slightly larger than a telephone booth, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general. Dept. of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General The IG report noted that ICE personnel were on site at the facility and all detainees were given an ICE handbook that said Alligator Alcatraz "is a facility of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement," despite the lack of a contract to run day-to-day operations.

DHS didn't immediately respond to additional questions about the report or the agreement.

DeSantis was asked about the report during his daily press conference and said he had not read it.

"I know that it was inspected, all those standards," he said of the detention facility. The goal was not to apply those standards but to exceed those standards."

DeSantis and Trump toured the facility together and described it at the time as crucial to helping in the Trump administration's mass deportation effort. But the use of tented housing units and detainees' vulnerability to severe weather immediately drew backlash from Democrats and immigrant advocates - and sparked a series of lawsuits that are ongoing.

Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Google News US Nation & Law.