Alligator Alcatraz isn't meant for minors. A 15-year-old ended up there anyway

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In the rush to open a detention camp in the Florida Everglades for “some of the most vicious” migrants illegally in the country, state and federal officers detained a 15-year-old boy with no criminal record and sent him in handcuffs to Alligator Alcatraz, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times have learned.

The teenager, a Mexican national whose name is Alexis, was a passenger in a vehicle stopped in Tampa by Florida Highway Patrol troopers and later handed over to federal immigration authorities on July 1. His father spoke to the Herald/Times and said his son spent three days in the tents and chain-link pens at the pop-up detention center, making him one of the first immigrant detainees shuttled to site.

State and federal officials initially deflected questions or denied that Alexis had been locked up at the facility. But on Wednesday, the DeSantis administration acknowledged that they had in fact held the teenager at Alligator Alcatraz, and said that he lied about his age when stopped by law enforcement.

“While at Alligator Alcatraz, an individual disclosed they had misrepresented their age upon arrest to ICE. Immediate action was taken to separate and remove the detainee in accordance with federal protocols,” said Stephanie Hartman, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the site.

Alexis, whom the Herald/Times is identifying only by his first name because he is a minor, was transferred out of Alligator Alcatraz on July 4. He is now in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and being held at a shelter for migrant children.

The state maintains no minors will be held at Alligator Alcatraz, but the boy’s detention shows how wide a net the DeSantis and Trump administrations have cast in their zeal to round up undocumented immigrants — and the haste with which state and federal authorities have acted to send detainees to a facility billed as a game-changer in the effort to speed up deportations.

Alexis’ father, Ignacio, says he is trying to reunite with his son— a kid who likes to watch Dragon Ball Z cartoons and play basketball. Ignacio, whose full name is being withheld by the Herald/Times because he is undocumented and concerned about being deported, says it is hard to see his son’s clothes, shoes and toys around the house while he is away.

“When you’re apart from your kids, you miss them. If you don’t see them, you feel their absence,” said Ignacio, who said his son followed him to Florida two years ago after he fled his hometown in Chiapas, Mexico due to violence. Ignacio said he came to the United States in 2018 with a work visa that he overstayed.

“I am pleading with God that we can be reunited,” Ignacio said.

Detained in Tampa

Alexis’ journey to Alligator Alcatraz began with a decision to tag along with friends who were on a July 1 trip to Tampa, his dad said.

It’s not clear why, but at some point, Florida Highway Patrol pulled their vehicle over. Troopers then called immigration authorities. Ignacio said his son told officers he was an adult because he feared that if he disclosed he was a minor he would be separated from the group. “It was because of fear.”

Alexandra Manrique Alfonso, an immigration attorney who has since spoken with Alexis, said he was put in handcuffs and transferred to a detention center that the boy described as having tents, bunk beds and cells surrounded with chain-linked fencing. The 15-year-old told her he had been housed with adults.

After Alexis’ arrest, Ignacio didn’t hear from his son for three days. He only learned Alexis had been detained when one of his son’s friends called from Alligator Alcatraz. Eventually his son called, too, and that’s when Ignacio told him to tell state workers that he is a minor.

“I told him to tell the truth,” the father said.

To help confirm his age, the father sent a copy of Alexis’ birth certificate via a message on WhatsApp, a third-party messaging app, he said. He told his son to ask for permission to use his phone so he could show the proof to the people in charge at the facility. The boy was transferred out of the detention center on July 4 after his age was confirmed.

“This is one of many issues with illegal immigration: individuals are in the country without basic, verifiable identification documentation,” Hartman, the state spokeswoman, told the Herald/Times.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Florida Highway Patrol did not respond to questions about the case. Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directed reporters to Florida officials.

Safeguards

Word spread quickly among detainees at Alligator Alcatraz that a minor had been held inside the facility. Attorneys heard about it, too, and began to ask questions.

Manrique Alfonso, the director of the Children’s Legal Program at Americans for Immigrant Justice, first heard about Alexis’ case on July 10. She interviewed him on July 11 during a video call. The teenager spoke to her from a shelter for migrant children. During the interview, she asked him to describe the facility. She shared her screen, and showed him a picture of Alligator Alcatraz, which he identified as the place where he had been temporarily held.

On July 1, the day before the first detainees arrived at the detention center, President Donald Trump said during a visit that the facility would soon house “some of the most vicious people on the planet.”

Records reviewed last week by the Herald/Times show that, like Alexis, hundreds of detainees who were slated to be sent to Alligator Alcatraz or were already there had no criminal convictions or pending charges.

“The case is important to highlight to ensure that there is oversight and safeguards in place because an adult facility is not a place for a child,” Manrique Alfonso said in an interview.

Manrique Alfonso has talked with Alexis’ father and has offered to represent his son. She said she is scheduled to meet with the boy in person on Thursday.

The state did not respond with specifics when asked what steps are being taken to ensure children are not held at the facility, only saying “minors are not detained at Alligator Alcatraz.”

When the Herald/Times first contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Division of Emergency Management on Monday about Alexis’ detention at Alligator Alcatraz, they deflected or denied that a minor had been sent to the site.

“This is inaccurate. You have bad info,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to the Herald/Times.

It wasn’t until Wednesday, when reporters said they’d confirmed he’d been held there, that the state acknowledged the story was true.

Now, more than two weeks after Alexis left home, Ignacio is working to be reunited with his son. He told the Herald/Times he has submitted paperwork and is trying to schedule an appointment for a paternity test.

“All I can say is that I am very sad,” he said. “It is very sad that a lot of families are being separated.”