For around 15 hours, immigration detention officers kept Raúl Suárez Herrero confined in a cage slightly larger than a phone booth, where he feared snakes and endured mosquitoes in the middle of Florida swampland, the former detainee alleged.
asserted
detainee → keep → swampland
Suárez, 59, told José Díaz-Balart in an interview for Noticias Telemundo’s “Ahora 360” that he was forced into the cage, measuring 7 feet, 9 inches high and 4 feet, 3 inches square, for praying out loud for an ill young man at “Alligator Alcatraz,” an ICE detention site.
asserted
he → tell → Alcatraz
“I feel like I was in hell,” Suárez later told NBC News in a phone interview from Mexico, where he was deported.
asserted
he → feel → Mexico
Suárez spoke days after a Department of Homeland Security watchdog confirmed the use of the phone booth-sized cages at the now-shuttered Florida detention camp in a Sept. 11 report.
asserted
watchdog → speak → report
“The use of such restrictive spaces is highly unconventional and does not align with standards for humane treatment,” the report said.
asserted
report → align → treatment
The DHS Office of Inspector General report documented its inspectors’ findings during an unannounced January visit to the Ochopee, Florida, site.
asserted
report → document → site
In December, Amnesty International issued its own report on conditions at the detention site based on interviews with detainees and its own tour of the facility.
asserted
International → issue → facility
The organization detailed the use of the small cages and said it amounted to torture.
asserted
it → detail → torture
The facility staff told inspectors that the cages were “calming areas” where immigrants could de-escalate and have time alone and that no one spent more than two hours inside them.
uncertain
one → tell → them
But Suárez told Noticias Telemundo that “they took me there and I spent more than 15 hours inside in that little hole,” referring to the small cage.
asserted
I → tell → cage
He said he was forced in around 1 p.m. and taken out at about 5 a.m. “when morning was breaking.”
asserted
morning → say → a.m.
According to Suarez, the cage was in a recreation area where detainees took exercise time.
uncertain
detainees → accord → time
Suarez said he couldn’t stretch out on the cage floor and got little sleep for fear of what might slither into the cage.
uncertain
what → say → cage
“I had to be careful because on the ground there were snakes and you don’t see them.
asserted
you → have → them
You can’t fall asleep because they can come into the cage,” Suárez said in a video interview.
asserted
Suárez → fall → interview
DHS did not directly address Suárez’s allegations or case in response to questions from NBC News.
asserted
DHS → address → News
But a spokesperson rejected “claims that there were ‘inhumane’ conditions” at the immigrant detention center.
uncertain
spokesperson → reject → center
Those claims are “categorically false” and any allegations of excessive use of force are “FALSE,” the spokesperson said in an email.
uncertain
spokesperson → say → email
“No detainees were being beaten or abused,” the DHS spokesperson said.
asserted
spokesperson → beat → ?
DHS provides long-standing medical, dental and mental health services, three meals a day that are evaluated by certified dietitians, clean water, clothing, bedding and hygiene products and access to phones to talk with family and lawyers, the spokesperson stated.
asserted
spokesperson → provide → family
Alligator Alcatraz’s standards were consistent with those under other administrations, the spokesperson also said.
asserted
spokesperson → say → administrations
Further questions were referred to the state of Florida, “as this facility was managed by the State of Florida through the Division of Emergency Management.”
asserted
facility → refer → Management
The facility in the heart of the Everglades was built by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of the state’s push to support President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
asserted
facility → build → crackdown
Alex Lafranconi, a spokesman for DeSantis, has dismissed criticism of the small cages.
asserted
Lafranconi → dismiss → cages
Lafranconi has described the small cages as a confinement area for “violent criminal aliens who have proven they cannot remain peaceful,” and said “we’d make them smaller, if we could.”
uncertain
we → describe → aliens
Although DHS said the inspector general “indicated” all recommendations have been administratively closed, the OIG said in its report that the administration did not address its 10 recommendations, including that it “discontinue the use of the small metal enclosures to hold detainees for any reason or amount of time.”
asserted
it → say → time
The OIG also said that at the time of the inspection, all the detainees were ICE detainees and there was evidence that ICE had some degree of oversight authority and engagement at the facility.
asserted
ICE → say → facility
Originally from Cuba and in the U.S. since he was 12, Suarez was detained by ICE in July 2025 during an ICE check-in.
asserted
Suarez → detain → in
Before it was recently ordered closed, Alligator Alcatraz had been denounced by multiple detainees and legal and immigrant advocates for its conditions.
asserted
Alcatraz → order → conditions
The detention facility’s records state the average time people were placed in the smaller cages with metal fencing was 59 minutes and 27 seconds, according to the OIG report.
uncertain
people → state → report
But the OIG said it could not confirm or refute ICE officials’ assertions regarding use of the enclosures or detainees’ allegations they had been denied food or other abuses.
uncertain
they → say → food
The small cages at the facility were supposed to be a “safe and secure place” where people could “reflect on their behavior choices, manage their emotions, reduce stress, and practice self-directed behavior” according to the detention camp’s policies, the report stated.
uncertain
report → suppose → policies
According to detention center records cited by the OIG, 79 people were held in the small cages during the period of July 17, 2025, to Jan. 18, and none were held more than two hours.
uncertain
none → accord → Jan.
Detainees in the small cage “may leave at any time by detainee request or per staff directive,” according to the report.
uncertain
Detainees → leave → report
But Suárez was adamant that his confinement was not voluntary and lasted far more than two hours.
asserted
confinement → last → ?
“Everybody lied” about the small cages, Suárez said, disputing that he could have gotten out or requested to be let out.
uncertain
he → lie → cages
He said he was forced into the cage after praying out loud for a man who had an epileptic seizure as they were waiting to get registered at the detention camp.
asserted
they → say → camp
Help for the man was taking “too long,” according to Suárez.
uncertain
Help → take → Suárez
That’s when he said he started praying aloud, as he used to do at the evangelical church he attended before his arrest.
asserted
he → ’ → arrest
“I asked God for the young man’s life,” he said.
asserted
he → ask → life
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
