Some detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ likely never in removal proceedings

U.S. government lawyers say that detainees at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” likely include people who have never been in removal proceedings, which is a direct contradiction to what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened in July.

Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice made that admission Thursday in a court filing arguing that the detainees at the facility in the Everglades wilderness don't have enough in common to be certified as a class in a lawsuit over whether they're getting proper access to attorneys.

A removal proceeding is a legal process initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine if someone should be deported from the United States.

The DOJ attorneys wrote that the detain