Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem turned the tables on NBC host Kristen Welker on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” by citing Biden-era detention facility conditions in response to questions about Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.
Democrats are calling for the shutdown of Florida’s new “Alligator Alcatraz” facility, citing overcrowding and unsanitary conditions after a tour on Saturday. When Welker pressed Noem on lawmakers’ complaints, the DHS secretary responded that the facility meets “the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities” before the host jumped in to point out what Democrats are calling the facility.
“Democrats have called them cages, though,” Welker said, cutting off Noem.
“I wish they would have said that back during the Biden administration and back when Democrats were in the White House,” Noem quickly responded. “And they were piling people on top of each other on cement floors and literally didn’t have two feet to move. They never did that. That’s why this politics has to end.”
During the Biden administration, pictures from inside immigration detention centers showed overcrowded conditions as millions of migrants entered the country illegally.
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The new facility, which is expected to cost $450 million for 5,000 beds to house illegal migrants and other foreign nationals in detention, opened in July. Prior to housing migrants, President Donald Trump and other officials from his administration were seen talking through the space and being given a break down of how the facility would operate.
“We took cameras in there,” Noem continued. “We will take cameras in there and show people what these facilities look like. Because if you compare them to what happened under the Biden administration and under the Obama administration, these centers are at the highest levels and they’re even higher than what our federal prison standards are or state or local often are.”
The bipartisan tour on Saturday consisted of at least five member of Congress and an estimated 20 state legislators, which is the first inspection by elected officials since the opening, according to Politico.
Following the tour, Democrats like New York Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused the facility of being an “internment camp,” Politico reported. Republican participants in the visit said that the Democrats’ rhetoric about the situation at the facility is significantly overblown.
“They are essentially packed into cages, wall to wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” Schultz told reporters.
Democrats have also raised concerns about the facility’s “food quantity, drinking water, and high temperatures,” with party lawmakers reportedly claiming they were shown a “sanitized” version of the center, according to Politico. Lawmakers were notably frustrated that they were not allowed to speak with detainees or enter the tents where migrants are housed to assess living conditions.
However, Republicans like Florida Sen. Blaise Ingoglia dismissed the complaints as “political theater,” telling Politico the center was “clean, air-conditioned, and well-kept.”
“The rhetoric does not match the reality,” Ingoglia told the outlet. “It’s basically all political theater coming from the [Democrats]. What they’re saying is pure bulls**t.”
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