https://www.clickorlando.com/news/lo...torney-claims/

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A Central Florida immigration attorney said she’s running into issues representing her client who was recently transported to Alligator Alcatraz.

Josephine Arroyo is an Orlando-based immigration attorney. She said her client, a DACA recipient, is currently being detained at Alligator Alcatraz.

Arroyo feels like she’s been living in the Twilight Zone since the opening of the facility.

“I just thought this was some — another one of these soundbites to get people agitated or things,” Arroyo said. “I never thought this was going to become a reality and so quickly.”

Arroyo said she was already representing her client for driving with a suspended license prior to his transfer to the South Florida facility. But she said that case was taken care of before he was moved.

Arroyo said originally her client was in the Osceola County jail where she believes an immigration hold was put on him. Her client was eventually transferred to the Seminole County Jail, then taken to the Orange County Jail, and ultimately ended up at Alligator Alcatraz.

“I spoke to him, and he told me he was in Orange County,” Arroyo said. “I was thinking like, why are you in Orange County? They don’t have jurisdiction. My husband and I went to visit him on Thursday morning before lunch, and he had already been taken by ICE.”

She never thought he would end up at the detention facility.

“We knew our client had legal status here in the U.S. and so never in a million years would I have ever imagined he was going to end up there,” she said.

Arroyo said she found out her client was at the detention center from his family.

She said her client’s legal status is through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — also known as DACA. They’re also known as “Dreamers.”

DACA is a U.S. Immigration policy that allows certain undocumented individuals who were brought to the U.S. as children to receive temporary protection from deportation and work authorization.

She said since he’s been at Alligator Alcatraz, she’s had a hard time getting in touch with her client.

“I can’t get a hold of anyone,” Arroyo said. “We have called the Miami office ICE, the Plantation office, the Jacksonville office, no one is answering. We’ve contacted Baker County because they have a hub there in their facility and there is usually an ICE agent on site. That person is not answering. I have no answers, no access to my client. This is a violation of their constitutional right to counsel and access to counsel.”

Over the weekend, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier praised the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Walton County Sheriff’s Office on X for transporting immigrants to Alligator Alcatraz.

News 6 reached out to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to ask them about the logistics of those transports.

They tell us ICE calls them to ask for assistance with the transports. They said detainees are usually brought in from other counties over a period of 1 to 2 days to the Marion County Jail.

The sheriff’s office told us that the jail can hold up to 2,200 people and said it is already budgeted for. They said jail occupancy usually sits at around 1,800 people and it’s not a huge issue to house detainees for a couple of nights before transporting them if they need to.

The detainees are sent on a 50-60-passenger bus with a transportation deputy. A transportation deputy is a sworn deputy who transports inmates to and from court or transports inmates who are being extradited to another county.

The deputy makes the trip up and back in one day.

We also asked Orange County whether or not people have been transported from the county Jail to Alligator Alcatraz. They sent us this response:

“ICE usually doesn’t inform us of where inmates are being transported. We were recently given information that some went to Alligator Alcatraz, but we were not provided with specifics on how many, nor which specific inmates were transported there. Orange County does not know the specific criteria being used by ICE to determine who will be transported to Alligator Alcatraz. Inmates held for release to ICE are being held pursuant to an ICE detainer pending release to ICE.


“Also, for clarification, Orange County Corrections does not transport inmates, ICE does. Orange County Corrections Department has not, nor do we transport inmates released to ICE custody. ICE and/or their contracted partners facilitate these transports.”


News 6 also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the ICE Miami Field Office, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management to ask whether or not attorneys are able to access Alligator Alcatraz to meet with their clients.

We also asked about reports related to the facility not having enough food or water. We heard back from FDEM and they told us:

“Attorneys can reach out to set up an appointment with the detainee upon request. The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good, working order.”


We asked FDEM who attorneys should reach out to when setting up an appointment with detainees and we have not heard back.