Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is speaking out against the recent surge in immigration arrests and deportations, as well as plans to detain migrants at Alligator Alcatraz, in the Everglades, calling both cruel and inhumane.
“You’re not going to make America great by making America mean”
“We all want to make America great again, but you’re not going to make America great by making America mean,” Wenski said.
He expressed concern about the safety and conditions at the Everglades detention site.
“No matter how well secure you have the tents, in a strong storm I would think they would be hazardous. Plus the Everglades out there is very hot,” Wenski said.
He also criticized what he called dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding the site.
“To mock these people that are detained here is to forget, that they… have parents, mothers, fathers, children, brothers and sister that are very distressed by people being detained here,” he said.
Wenski urged Congress to take action.
“What makes it cruel right now is the arbitrariness of this push to deport more people that really have a stake, who’ve already been here, that put in sweat equity and staying here,” he said.
Lawmakers, activists push back on detention site
State Senator Shevrin Jones and fellow Democrats plan to visit the detention site tomorrow, though Jones voiced skepticism about what they’ll be shown.
“Tomorrow, my expectation is that they’re going to show us what they want us to see, but not what we need to see that matches what family members have already communicated to us,” he said.
The group previously tried to visit the site unannounced on July 3 but was denied entry. They are now suing for access.
The Miami-Dade Young Democrats are also denouncing the plan, urging Miami-Dade’s mayor to act.
“To come in, file a lawsuit to stop this from being used as inhuman torture and treatment of people in the Everglades,” said Justin Mendoza-Routt.
Environmental groups file legal challenge
Environmental advocacy group Friends of the Everglades has also joined the opposition. Elise Bennett, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said they have filed a legal notice and plan to sue.
“There’s just so many reasons to not like this project and to understand why it’s wrong,” Bennett said.
“We’ve raised claims related to the Endangered Species Act impacts to species like the Florida panther and the Florida Bonnet Bat and the wood stork, and also claims under the Clean Water Act for impacts to wetlands and sensitive waters in Big Cypress and in the Everglades,” she said.
