Ingoglia Labels Democratic Outcry “Performative,” Touting Detention Center’s Swift Success in Stemming Illegal Immigration
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia appeared on “LiveNow From FOX” Friday, offering a staunch defense of the state’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center and dismissing criticisms from Democratic lawmakers as politically motivated.
Ingoglia emphasized the facility’s success in facilitating deportations and its role as a deterrent to illegal immigration.
When asked if the facility, officially known as the “Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center,” was living up to expectations, Ingoglia responded, “Yeah, and we get closer to that reality every day.” He reiterated the center’s purpose as a central holding facility for individuals with final deportation orders, designed for short-term stays of “two weeks, three weeks max” before detainees are shipped back to their home countries. He stated, “It’s been successful.”
READ: Florida Gov. DeSantis: Deportation Flights Begin From ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ Capacity Rise Expected
Ingoglia highlighted Governor DeSantis’ Friday announcement that detainees are already being flown out by Homeland Security and deported, just weeks after the center’s opening.
“That’s the plan,” Ingoglia affirmed, explaining that the facility is meant to be a constantly turning-over cycle: “An illegal immigrant comes in, gets processed, gets checked… and then another illegal immigrant would take that bed.”
The CFO also directly confronted accusations from Democratic lawmakers, particularly Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who described detainees living in “cages,” “packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.”
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Ingoglia’s response was sharp: “It’s a detention center. It’s not the Four Seasons. It’s not the Ritz-Carlton. These are criminal aliens who have been caught by DHS ICE… This is not meant to be, you know, a weekend in paradise.” He dismissed such criticisms as “performative,” aimed at “ril[ing] up their base for the purposes of probably getting them excited for the midterm elections or probably to fundraise off of it.”
Ingoglia sought to clarify what he believes is a significant misconception about the facility’s mission.
“Anything that comes out of the Democrats who were pertaining this facility is just absolutely false,” he declared, adding, “I haven’t heard anything truthful… regarding this facility.”
He stressed that Alligator Alcatraz is not for “taking people off of the streets and then throwing them in this facility,” but rather houses “illegal immigrants on final deportation orders,” representing “the last step for them to be released.”
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Ingoglia urged other states to “follow Florida’s lead and build something similar,” asserting that an “orderly fashion for people to leave” is essential to solving the problem of illegal immigration.
He concluded by refuting what he called another Democratic fabrication: claims of mosquito infestations requiring nets.
He cited the Friday press conference where, despite a reporter’s mention of bug spray, “you’re not seeing any bugs, aren’t you? That’s telling you that what the left is saying about the facility is inaccurate.”
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