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A lawyer filed a sworn statement in court alleging that guards at the immigration detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz", in the Florida Everglades, beat and pepper-sprayed several detainees on April 2 during an internal protest over lack of access to phones, reported AP.
According to the legal document submitted by attorney Katherine Blankenship, the guards began by mocking the detainees, then issued threats and entered the cell; one of the inmates received a punch in the face when approaching a guard, which triggered a widespread beating.
A guard placed a knee on the neck of a detainee. Another inmate suffered a wrist fracture, and an elderly man fainted due to lack of ventilation after pepper spray was used in closed cells, according to CBS News.
The most documented case is that of the Cuban Raiko López Morffi, who was arrested during a routine appointment with immigration authorities and has a deportation order.
In a recorded call from his family shared with Telemundo 51, López Morffi described his condition almost two weeks after the incident: "My head hurts a lot, my chest hurts, my ribs hurt, my shoulders hurt, and I can barely lift both of my hands."
López Morffi himself recounted the moment of the attack: "They pulled me out, kicking and punching me until they threw me on the ground… they hit me on the head and all over."
His stepmother, Lisette Champagne, detailed to Telemundo 51 that "eight guards beat him... one hit him in the eye, and there was even one who tried to strangle him," and that other inmates shouted "murderer, you killed him."
After the beating, López Morffi was moved to a solitary confinement cell for nine days without receiving adequate medical attention. The phone service was restored the day after the incident with no explanation from the authorities.
Reports of violence at this center are not new. In December 2025, hundreds of Cubans staged a mass protest that was repressed with beatings and pepper spray.
In February 2026, lawyer Gladys Carredeguas reported that the Cuban reggaeton artist Abel Díaz Rodríguez, known as El Chulo, was beaten and sent to solitary confinement after requesting medication for an elderly detainee.
Amnesty International classified the prolonged use of shackles at the center as torture in December 2025.
Alligator Alcatraz was built in just eight days at the command of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis using emergency powers and opened on July 3, 2025, at Dade-Collier Airport, within the Big Cypress National Preserve.
It has a capacity for 3,000 detainees and currently houses between 700 and 800 Cubans, 70% of whom have no final deportation orders, while migrants from other nationalities tend to stay only two or three weeks.
On March 28, 2026, Federal Judge Sheri Polster Chappell issued a preliminary injunction that mandates ensuring confidential and immediate phone calls and unscheduled visits from attorneys to all detainees.
The state of Florida announced an appeal of that order and has denied the allegations of inhumane conditions, describing them as politically motivated attacks.
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