MIAMI—Five Florida lawmakers are suing in the state Supreme Court to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to let them access the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility at any time.
In the Thursday afternoon filing, the Democratic legislators who were denied entry at the Everglades migrant detention center last week asked the Florida Supreme Court to demand DeSantis and the state's emergency response director allow lawmakers to inspect the center unannounced.
"The denial of unannounced access to the 'Alligator Alcatraz' was blatantly unconstitutional," the petition reads. "Our Constitution does not coronate a king."
The case comes a day after the Florida Division of Emergency Management offered lawmakers an hour-and-a-half Alligator Alcatraz tour this Saturday—one week after Sen. Shevrin Jones, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, Rep. Anna Eskamani, Rep. Michele Rayner, and Rep. Angie Nixon were denied entry to the center because of unidentified "safety concerns."
The Democrats claim this to be a "blatant, illegal, and cavalier" violation of the law. They pointed to a state statute granting lawmakers the ability to visit any state correctional facility "at their pleasure."
Still, the five lawmakers were denied entry at the gate. One FDEM spokesperson later claimed that "the legal authority cited by the legislature does not extend to this facility in the manner requested," court documents say.
Jones, Smith, Eskamani, Rayner, and Nixon attempted to visit Alligator Alcatraz—formerly the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport—on July 3, two days after DeSantis and President Donald Trump hosted a grand opening ceremony to celebrate the nation's newest detention center for migrants illegally in the country.
Though Florida officials lauded the center for being constructed in just eight days, claiming it could withstand a Category 2 hurricane, reports of flooding quickly began to circulate following the Trump-DeSantis event.
This, combined with worries of extreme heat and mosquitoes at a tented facility in the middle of the Everglades, prompted Democratic lawmakers to visit and inspect the center. They were denied.
"This Court should grant this Petition and issue a writ quo warranto directing the Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, as Florida Department of Emergency Management Director, to immediately allow the Petitioners statutorily sanctioned unannounced access to...'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility," the document says.
Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for DeSantis, told The Floridian in a statement that the lawsuit is "dumb" and "frivolous," noting that the state has already invited lawmakers to tour Alligator Alcatraz this weekend.
"The State is looking forward to quickly dispensing with this dumb lawsuit," he added.
Representatives for the attorney general's office did not immediately provide comments to The Floridian.
This is a breaking story. Stay tuned for updates.
