On Tuesday, several non-profit organizations held a press conference where they demanded that the facility, which is located in the middle of a swamp in Florida, be closed immediately, reports The Guardian.
They referred to reports that migrants are forced to sleep in overcrowded dormitories and that there are sewage overflows that have led to parts of the facility being "flooded with feces". Last week, it was revealed that a 15-year-old boy had been held there for several days, despite the authorities' claims that only adults are interned.
The conditions are unbearable. When you expose people to human feces in the heat, in a hot climate, bacteria and thus diseases spread, says Tessa Petit from the organization Florida Immigration Coalition, to CBS.
At another press conference, Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum stated that 14 of those being held at the facility are Mexican citizens and that she is working to get them to travel home.
Alligator Alcatraz was built quickly on an old airfield and opened at the beginning of July. Trump has described the facility as a model for other states. He has particularly emphasized that the hard-to-reach location - in a swamp surrounded by alligators, snakes and disease-spreading mosquitoes - reduces the risk of escapes.
Florida's authorities have denied the allegations of "inhuman" treatment at the facility.
