Amnesty International alleges human rights violations at Alligator Alcatraz

Enforcing what Gov. Ron DeSantis calls the “rule of law” violates international law and norms, according to a global group weighing in this week.

Amnesty International is the latest group to condemn the treatment of immigrants with disputed documentation at two South Florida lockups, the Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome) and the Everglades Detention Facility (Alligator Alcatraz).

The latter has been a priority of state government since President Donald Trump was inaugurated.

The organization claims treatment of the detained falls “far below international human rights standards.”

Amnesty released a report Friday covering what it calls a “a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025, to document the human rights impacts of federal and state migration and asylum policies on mass detention and deportation, access to due process, and detention conditions since President Trump took office on 20 January 2025.”

“The routine and prolonged use of shackles on individuals detained for immigration purposes, both at detention facilities and during transfer between facilities, constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and may amount to torture or other ill-treatment,” the report concludes.

Gov. DeSantis’ administration spent much of 2025 prioritizing Alligator Alcatraz.

While the state did not comment on the report, Amnesty alleges the state’s “decision to cut resources from essential social and emergency management programs while continuing to allocate resources for immigration detention represents a grave misallocation of state resources. This practice undermines the fulfillment of economic and social rights for Florida residents and reinforces a system of detention that facilitates human rights violations.”

Amnesty urges a series of policy changes that won’t happen, including the repeal of immigration legislation in Senate Bill 4-C, which proscribes penalties for illegal entry and illegal re-entry, mandates imprisonment for being in Florida without being a legal immigrant, and capital punishment for any such undocumented immigrant who commits capital crimes.

The group also recommends ending 287(g) agreements allowing locals to help with immigration enforcement, stopping practices like shackling and solitary confinement, and closing Alligator Alcatraz itself.