The attorney of a detainee at the migrant detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” said she has no way of speaking to her client, adding that a 15-year-old boy spent several days at the facility that is currently under scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers.
Speaking with 7News on Saturday, Katie Blankenship said she tried to visit her client at the facility, located in the middle of the Florida Everglades, on Thursday.
“I still haven’t gotten a legal visit or anything scheduled,” she said.
Blankenship, the co-founder of Sanctuary of the South, said that when she arrived at the detention center, located in Ochopee, to visit her client and a few other possible clients, she wasn’t allowed.
“We have been unable to get anybody from [United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or the state to contact us to say [my client] is represented, he has credible fear. We need to be able to see him and make sure the process is flagged for the asylum office,” she said.
Blankenship said one of the people she was trying to see was a 15-year-old boy who, to her knowledge, doesn’t have a criminal history.
“We still do not understand why ICE even picked him up,” she said.
Blankenship said the teen spent three to four days here in the Everglades and has been moved to a youth facility but is still under ICE detention, trying to fight his immigration case.
“We are looking at how we can represent him and support him, if that’s what they need,” she said.
Blankenship said she’s concerned because she hasn’t been able to properly represent her client, adding she also hasn’t been able to speak or see the other people, either.
“This is how black this hole is for attorneys. I have no idea whether they’re going to be able to show up in court, what court they’re going to be heard in, how I even present myself as their lawyer in court,” she said. “After I went on Thursday. all of my guys disappeared from the ICE locator, overnight.”
Blankenship said she is still trying to figure out where everyone is and trying to get in contact with them.