Noelle Damico’s Response to ICE Spokesperson’s Statement about Alligator Alcatraz
ICE Spokesperson’s Statement on June 16, 2026 about Alligator Alcatraz:
“As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft sided facility. For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.”
Noelle Damico, Director of Social Justice Responded:
As Floridians will remember, Alligator Alcatraz was opened during hurricane season last year, so their belated concern for the welfare of people detained at Alligator Alcatraz -- people who they have shackled and put in torture boxes, denied medical treatment, pepper-bombed, given rotten food -- strains credulity. DHS and the state of Florida are winding down this detention center because through 47 consecutive weeks of public protest at the freedom vigil outside Alligator Alcatraz, testimony in Congress, conscience-shocking press coverage, and pressure on lawmakers, thousands upon thousands of people have made it politically toxic to continue operations; its moral and financial cost are too high. We will verify their claim that all people have been moved and through our legal partner, Sanctuary of the South, provide free legal counsel to people wherever they land. We will keep the pressure on until Alligator Alcatraz is shut down for good."
ABOUT THE WORKERS CIRCLE:
The Workers Circle is a national Jewish social justice organization founded by Eastern European immigrants who came to the United States fleeing autocracy and persecution and seeking democratic freedoms. That history drives the organization’s work today. Home to the grassroots power-building model of Democracy Circles, national freedom vigils, and the Talk to Your Sheriff program, the Workers Circle’s multigenerational activist community of 200,000+ people powers our strategic, non-partisan campaigns to empower voters, strengthen Constitutional rights, and demand the multiracial democracy we need.
