Originally published at: Contracts Show Millions of Dollars and Diverted Disaster Resources Were Used to Build DeSantis’ ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ - TPM – Talking Points Memo
TPM has obtained and analyzed over a dozen contracts and invoices related to the construction and operation of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention camp in the Everglades. The documents identify eight previously undisclosed companies — including two firms with a Fortune 500 pedigree — involved with the controversial facility. They also…
5 Likes
They also show that, in at least one instance, resources allocated for the state’s “disaster preparedness” apparatus were diverted to the site as DeSantis’ office used emergency powers to quickly establish the camp, causing a shortfall that needs to be addressed during the ongoing hurricane season.
Gee, that can’t possibly go wrong.
And hey, if the hurricane season turns out to be a bad one – which no one could possibly have predicted – then there’s always FEMA … uh … hang on a sec while I check something … ah, shit.
26 Likes
Trump and other Republicans have reveled in that nickname and in the idea that the harsh environment surrounding the site would prove hazardous for the migrants detained there. The project has inspired mocking memes from White House aides and even merch sold by the House GOP with an image of a smirking gator and the slogan “ICE WITH A BITE.” As he toured the grounds, Trump declared that it was “not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon.”
“We’re going to teach them how to run away from an alligator … if they escape prison,” Trump said. “You have a lot of bodyguards, you have a lot of cops, that are in the form of alligators.”
Since that opening event, other officials have been allowed to tour the facility. While Republicans have defended the conditions there, Democrats have described it as inhumane. In a news conference after she visited the site on July 12, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) blasted it as an “internment camp.”
“They are essentially packed into cages, wall to wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” Wasserman Schultz said.
As others have said, meanness, cruelty and unusual punishment, banned by the U.S. Constitution, is the very point.
Furthermore, this is being done for the base because it makes them feel superior to others.
But more to the point, DeSantis and Trump are not really leading the base but rather being mascots for their bases grievances. Which is why when you attack Trump or other Republicans on any issue the base takes it personal because when attacking Trump, De’Santis and the rest you are attacking the grievances of the all White GOP.
25 Likes
I predict that if a hurricane comes knocking at FL’s side door the detainees won’t be safe within the hurried construction of this concentration camp. And then the suing will ensue big time for many, many years.
And it won’t be just the detainees that are vulnerable but tax paying Floridians too.
19 Likes
Who could have foreseen corruption stemming from the wedding of state-level GOP politics and the time-honored trustworthiness of Florida real estate/property development?
19 Likes
Hauling it out yet again:
17 Likes
"…provides a safer alternative to non-lethal and kinetic measures for changing behavior.”
WTF does that mean?
12 Likes
Slightly off topic.
Every time I see pictures of the cages, I keep seeing black bands holding the fencing in place. This is beyond the normal anchor points at the corners and main posts. I see them at the runs along the tops, bottoms and posts in between. For all the world, they look like simple cable ties. I can’t imagine they are. But considering the haste and the competency of this administration, I could believe it. Looks easy to jimmy and get out from under or over.
20 Likes
One can only speculate on the kickbacks involved in this.
22 Likes
As he toured the grounds, Trump that it was “not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon.”
The idea that Trump has ever been hiking in his life is ridiculous.
26 Likes
It will be very interesting to see the scramble for cover if a hurricane hits and some amount of the gear or money they would need for it is wrapped up in this instead. The pride they are taking the cruelty this represents is reprehensible…every time you think they have hit the bottom of the barrel of awfulness they crack open another barrel and dig in.
I agree, they are zip ties. It’s definitely cutting corners, though they might be appropriate if the detainees can’t get ahold of something to cut or pry at them. It’s not what I would use to hold detainees in…I suspect there are all kinds of indicators here where contractors cut corners for speed and to pocket money. The ones TPM could talk to were just delivering product orders, the ones who actually built this place are apparently DeSantis allies and not saying a word. Hopefully reporters keep digging on this and find the grift.
16 Likes
“I was very grateful for how he handled the situation with the lockdown, keeping the schools open,” Mansouri said of DeSantis.
I admit being impressed by how stoically he accepted the needless deaths of other people.
15 Likes
On a wet soggy day, the trek from the golf cart to the green, teeing up and letting fly is every bit a laborious and danger filled as hiking in the wilderness. He has to trust his instincts, steely resolve and past experience to place those spikes firmly, step by step. Replacing a divot is dancing with the devil of disaster. He could loose a caddy in the process of all things. And then there is the return, now worn from the journey, holding back the giddiness as one more hole down and Arrogance can get you in trouble and an obit as lost in the line of play. Golf is a tough business.
16 Likes
Another set of photos, they have raised toilets, totally open to the cages. No separation between them and the bunks. I imagine they are raised for plumbing purposes. But they are trying to make it hell on earth not just for the detainees, but for the entertainment of their more debauched followers. Once again, in lieu of seeing human beings, they see animals dealt with to their amusement.
14 Likes
Well, it gives me an idea of what a shotty real estate developer he is, after all isn’t that his claim to fame.
6 Likes
How adorable.
Misuse of public funds is an incredibly hot topic. Now, if we can just travel back to, oh, I don’t know, 1978, we might really have something that sticks to these motherfuckers.
8 Likes
You’ll be hoping for a long, long time.
7 Likes
This past Monday I emailed the local news station here in Fort Myers that some reporting on conditions at the concentration camp would be welcome. The camp is, relatively speaking, just down the road from us. No reporting on conditions for the detainees thus far. Some reporting on native Americans lawsuit against the construction and a little reporting on the environmental impact. I welcome this piece from TPM.
In the past week I’ve watched storm after storm pass over the area. Severe lightning, destructive winds and heavy rain preceded and followed by unrelenting heat and humidity. And the insects. Those metal framed tents look like lightning rods on that flat terrain and saunas sitting in the sun.
13 Likes
In a phone conversation with TPM on Tuesday afternoon, Mansouri described himself as “a big fan of Governor DeSantis.” However, he stressed that his donation and support “has nothing to do with my business interests.”
GOP donors all got together and plunged their hands into a big vat of Crisco. Because this is the greasiest of palm greasings I’ve seen in my adult life.
10 Likes
1,000 likes
5 Likes