Noem defends Alligator Alcatraz migrant facility amid inhumane claims

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Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem clashed with NBC "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker in a testy alternate on Sunday over alleged "inhumane" circumstances on the newly-opened Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention facility within the Florida everglades.

The detention facility , which at present holds 900 folks however has the capability to carry practically 4,000, has been beneath scrutiny after Democratic lawmakers toured the power on Saturday. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., described the power as an " internment camp." Democratic lawmakers who toured the facility claimed that detainees have been subjected to inhumane remedy, unsanitary circumstances and sweltering warmth. Wasserman Schultz claimed that detainees have been compelled to drink water from the identical sink they use for the lavatory, and have been packed into "wall-to-wall cages."

"Our detention facilities on the federal degree are held to a better customary than most native or state facilities and even federal prisons. The requirements are extraordinarily excessive, now it is a state-run facility at Alligator Alcatraz ---" Noem advised Welker in response to being questioned over whether or not the Florida facility was inhumane, earlier than being interrupted by the host.

Kristi Noem defended the circumstances at Alligator Alcatraz on "Meet the Press" Sunday. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)

TRUMP SAYS ONLY WAY OUT OF ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ IS DEPORTATION

"Greater than 30 folks stuffed right into a jail cell?" Welker requested, slicing off Noem.

"I want they might have stated that again through the Biden administration and again when the Democrats have been within the White Home after they have been piling folks on prime of one another on cement flooring and so they didn’t have two ft to maneuver. They by no means did that, and that’s why this politics has to finish," Noem stated.

Kristen Welker interrupted the Homeland Safety secretary a number of instances through the testy alternate. (William B. Plowman/NBC through Getty Photos)

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"I would not name them jail cells, I'd name them a facility the place they're held and which might be safe services, however are held to the very best ranges of what the federal authorities requires for detention services --" Noem stated earlier than as soon as once more being lower off by Welker.

"Democrats have known as them cages," the "Meet the Press" host interrupted.

Noem vowed to permit cameras to doc the circumstances inside migrant detention facilities to point out how their circumstances are superior to facilities used within the Biden administration. She additionally inspired unlawful immigrants to self-deport to keep away from the detention course of fully and provides themselves a chance to return to the nation legally.

Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan additionally took Democrats to task Sunday for overlooking migrant detention circumstances beneath Biden and failing to criticize them till Trump took workplace on CNN’s State of the Union.

""You did not see them complaining about, beneath Biden administration, folks being held in a border patrol car parking zone surrounded by a fence and sweltering warmth, they ignored 4 years of open borders, historic migrant deaths, historic People dying from fentanyl, historic numbers of girls and kids being intercourse trafficked."

<img src="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/07/1200/675/gettyimages-aligator-alcatraz-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1" alt="Workers install a permanent Alligator Alcatraz sign. The facility is within the Florida Everglades, 36 miles west of the central business district of Miami, in Collier County. Florida, on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (Photo via Getty Images)" width="1200" height="675"/> The detention facility at present holds 900 inmates. (Getty Photos)

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The Trump administration’s deportation insurance policies have been the topic of widespread controversy and a number of courtroom injunctions. The White Home has aggressively moved to safe the southern border and has been deporting unlawful immigrants at a speedy tempo.