MIAMI — José Javier Rodríguez, the Democratic candidate for Florida attorney general, is demanding an investigation into the now-closed detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz following a federal watchdog report that detailed inhumane conditions there, laying the blame directly on his Republican opponent.

“My opponent is James Uthmeier. Alligator Alcatraz was his baby,” he said in a press conference Thursday in Miami. “He came up with the idea. He designed it. He promoted it. He is now nowhere to be found.”

The report by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found that the detention facility, overseen by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, violated numerous state and federal standards.

The federal watchdog investigators found the detainees were sometimes confined in small metal cages, which staff claimed were “calming areas.” Detainees have said the cages were used for punishment. Watchdog investigators said their use was “unprecedented” among all the detention centers they have inspected.

Uthmeier at a press conference Thursday in Pembroke Pines said he had not read the report and that it sounded “like more fake news activities.”

Rodriguez said Uthmeier proposed the idea just to get a “pat on the head” from President Donald Trump. He said the project had been “massively profitable” for Uthmeier’s friends.

He is now demanding a full probe into the estimated $1 billion the state promised in no-bid contracts to private contractors to operate the facility, as well as the report’s findings that detainees lacked access to showers, adequate living space and clean water.

“We need an investigation. I will follow the evidence wherever it leads, and we need to make sure that this never happens again,” he said.

In June 2025, Uthmeier, who was appointed Florida attorney general by Gov. Ron DeSantis, revealed plans to convert areas of the Everglades’ Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into an immigration detention facility. He named the facility “Alligator Alcatraz,” describing it as a “one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”

The site was converted into a detention center within eight days by setting up tents and generators. During its opening, DeSantis guided President Trump, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on a tour of the facility.

Since the first detainees arrived in July 2025, they and their families have complained about harsh conditions at the facility, including late-night beatings, being held in cages as punishment and at times being unable to access their lawyers.

Rodriguez said the watchdog report confirms the conditions the detainees who were held there and their families said all along.

But both the state and federal governments have maintained that the detention center did meet federal standards.

In response to the report, Alex Lanfranconi, the governor’s communications director, said, “at least ten million illegal aliens entered our country under the Biden administration. Florida decided to do something about it.”

“The left-wing media wants to focus on a confinement area for violent criminal aliens who have proven they cannot remain peaceful while awaiting deportation. While it adheres to all federal standards for criminal confinement, we’d make it even smaller if we could.”

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(Herald/Times staff writer Claire Heddles contributed to this report.)

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