President Trump’s immigration system is designed to break people, not process them. In this interview, South Florida immigration attorney Evelyn Alonso explains how even minor civil violations are landing immigrants in Alligator Alcatraz.
By Nick Valencia | September 17, 2025
LAKE WORTH BEACH, FLORIDA— For undocumented immigrants in the U.S., the margin for error has all but disappeared. A traffic stop, a missing license, even an argument overheard by a neighbor — infractions once considered minor can now be the trigger that delivers someone into federal custody.
Evelyn Alonso, a South Florida immigration attorney, has represented at least six clients detained at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport — better known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” She says her caseload tells a grim story: people locked away not for violent crimes, but for civil violations like driving without a license or rolling through a stop sign.
“DUI is a huge one,” she warns. “We’ve had multiple clients end up there after being arrested for very minor things.”
The facility itself, critics argue, is a punishment by design. Set in a hurricane-prone swamp where rains regularly flood the grounds, it has become synonymous with despair.
Alonso says her clients describe being herded into back rooms where officers tell them to “just leave the country.” The effect, she argues, is psychological warfare — to break people down until deportation feels like the only escape. Yet even that option is blocked.
“People that are dying to leave can’t even leave,” Alonso said. “They’ve created a system where they can’t go forward, they can’t go back. It’s limbo.”
The risks don’t end on the road. Alonso notes that police responding to something as routine as a noise complaint can sweep someone into immigration custody, regardless of whether charges stick. A 2025 executive order means detainees in such cases can be denied bond altogether, even if they are later cleared.
“These are times to be very careful and very under the radar,” Alonso told me. “If you have a family member who’s undocumented, the best thing they can do right now is walk a straight line.”
Her warning doubles as free legal advice to a community living under siege. The message is clear: in Trump’s America, the smallest misstep can open the gates of Alligator Alcatraz.
