Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican allies of President Trump of having “declared war on people of color” with the creation of the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility and separate efforts she described as attempts to “whitewash” history.
“All the MAGA Republicans and Ron DeSantis care about is the abuse of human rights because, I mean, they have declared war on people of color, whether it’s in education and the erasure of their history with the efforts to whitewash, dismiss the history in the Smithsonian museums, rounding up people with masked ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainees, detention center employees and kidnaping them, not giving them access to counsel,” the former Democratic National Committee chair said during an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “Newsroom.”
“It’s one thing if they’re going to put a detention center somewhere in the state that’s appropriate, but this was just a stunt,” said Wasserman Schultz, who was one of several Democratic lawmakers allowed to tour Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz last month.
DeSantis’s office didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment, but the former candidate for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination has defended Trump’s agenda and the federal partnership that paved the way for the creation of the pop-up detention site to house migrants awaiting deportation.
“We’re not going to be deterred. We’re totally in the right on this. But I would also note, because of the success of Alligator Alcatraz, there’s demand for more,” the Florida governor told reporters Friday.
An Obama-appointed federal judge in Florida last week ordered the state to stop taking in new migrant detainees and halt expansion plans.
Democrats have continued to press for more information about the facility as it has faced mounting legal challenges.
Wasserman Schultz linked the facility to a broader GOP movement, including the review of exhibits in the Smithsonian Institution’s museums that Trump has claimed portray American history too negatively. She also tied it to mass ICE arrests of immigrants in the country without authorization.
“It shouldn’t and doesn’t have to be this way. It’s outrageous,” she said. “And Democrats are going to continue to push back.”
“This is a complete mess that was a political stunt from the beginning, that has had human rights abuses that are incomprehensible, that are absolutely harming the environment,” she said.
She said she fears that the site also is “really unraveling progress that we’ve made over 30 years to restore the Everglades” and the impact on tribal lands wasn’t considered.
“No public input,” she said.
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