Lawmakers visit 'Alligator Alcatraz' after being blocked

OCHOPEE, Fla. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida's new Everglades immigration detention center after visiting Saturday, describing it as crowded, unsanitary and bug-infested. Republicans on the same tour said they saw nothing of the sort at the remote facility that officials have dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz.”

The state-arranged tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups.

“There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, told reporters after visiting the agglomeration of tents, trailers and temporary buildings. “This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”

Cage-style units of 32 men share three combination toilet-sink devices, the visitors measured the temperature at 83 degrees (28 degrees Celsius) in a housing area entranceway and 85 (29 Celsius) in a medical intake area, and grasshoppers and other insects abound, she and her fellow Florida Democrats said.

Although the visitors said they were not able to speak with the detainees, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, also a Democrat, said one called out “I'm an American citizen!” and others chanted “Libertad!,” Spanish for “freedom.”

State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Florida, countered that he had seen a well-run, safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well.

“The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,” said Ingoglia, who said he toured in the same group as Wasserman Schultz. Ingoglia said a handful of detainees became “a little raucous” when the visitors appeared, but he did not make out what they were saying.

State Sen. Jay Collins was in another group and said he also found the detention center to be clean and functioning well: “No squalor.”

Collins, a Republican, said he saw backup generators, a tracking system for dietary restrictions and military-style bunks with good mattresses. The sanitation devices struck him as appropriate, if basic.

“Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not, but this is a transitional holding facility,” Collins said by phone.

Journalists were not allowed on the tour, and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside.

Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which built the facility, and to representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia's upbeat readouts on social media.

Across the state in Tampa, federal Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that of the Everglades detention center that “any issues that were there have been addressed.” She added that she has talked with five unnamed Republican governors about modeling other facilities on it.

DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center, constructed in days as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump's call for mass deportations. The first detainees arrived July 3, after Trump toured and praised the facility.

Described as temporary, it is meant to help the Republican president's administration reach its goal of boosting migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000. The Florida facility's remote location and its name — a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California — are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration.

Ahead of the facility's opening, state officials said detainees would have access to medical care, consistent air conditioning, a recreation yard, attorneys and clergy members.

But detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks, and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat. One man told his wife that detainees go days without getting showers.

Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions “completely false,” saying detainees always get three meals a day, unlimited drinking water, showers and other necessities.

“The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” she said.

Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site July 3 but said they were denied access. The state subsequently arranged Saturday's tour.

The lawmakers have sued over the earlier denial, accusing the DeSantis administration of impeding their oversight authority. A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit “dumb.”

Peltz reported from New York, and Rodriguez reported from Ochopee.

President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and others, tour "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rep. Darren Soto speaks outside the migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" during a news conference ahead of a tour of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks outside the migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" during a news conference ahead of a tour of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

Rep. Maxwell Frost speaks outside the migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" during a news conference ahead of a tour of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

A protester stands outside the migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

Dianne Mourer waves an American flag as Rana Mourer stands in front of a sign reading "Alligator Alcatraz" outside the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Alexandra Rodriguez)

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Workers sit alongside trailers as work progresses on a new migrant detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitely.

On Friday, U.S. forces seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum, a sign of the Trump administration's plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companies.

It's all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

The meeting, set for 2:30 p.m. EST, will be open to the news media, according to an update to the president's daily schedule. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is set to meet with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

The president is meeting with a wide swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Other companies slated to be at the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol.

Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America would help to backstop any investments.

Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day. Part of Trump's challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, as well as protections for companies entering the market.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are slated to attend the oil executives meeting, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of r estoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that a delegation from the Trump administration arrived to the South American nation on Friday.

The small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

Trump also announced on Friday he’d meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February, but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the U.S.

Trump, following the ouster of Maduro, had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro. Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)