WASHINGTON, DC - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem verbally sparred with the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier in July, pushing back against claims that the newly unveiled Alligator Alcatraz ICE detention center is host to “inhumane” conditions.
On July 13th, Secretary Noem appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” where the Homeland Security secretary countered allegations parroted by host Kristen Welker that the newfound ICE facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz is tantamount to some sort of internment camp.
When asked about the housing conditions at the Florida-based detention facility, Noem stated, “Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high, now this is a state-run facility at Alligator Alcatraz,” before being interrupted by Welker who asked, “More than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell?”
The Homeland Security secretary pushed back against the talking point, emphasizing how left-leaning media outlets seemed to ignore synonymous or even worse housing conditions occurring under the Biden administration.
“I wish they would have said that back during the Biden administration and back when the Democrats were in the White House when they were piling people on top of each other on cement floors and they didn’t have two feet to move,” Noem said, adding, “They never did that, and that’s why this politics has to end.”
Secretary Noem then went on to address the characterization of the detention facilities being “jail cells,” telling the NBC host, “I would call them a facility where they are held and that are secure facilities, but are held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities.”
Welker’s uttered criticisms of Alligator Alcatraz comes on the heels of a visit to the facility by Democratic lawmakers on July 12th, where critics of the current administration fomented the characterization that the facility is somehow inhumane.
Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was among those who visited the facility earlier in July, telling reporters following the visit, “There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down. This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who is also a Democrat, was complicit in emboldening the narrative that the Trump administration is detaining American citizens at ICE facilities, telling reporters that she heard a detainee at the facility yell out, “I’m an American citizen!”
However, Republicans who toured the same facility bore a different outlook on the housing conditions, with Florida State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia saying, “The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality.”
Sen. Ingoglia’s colleague, Sen. Jay Collins, concurred with the sentiment that Democrats are overexaggerating on the housing conditions at Alligator Alcatraz.
“Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not,” Sen. Collins told members of the press following his visit but pointed out the detention center serves as a “transitional holding facility” and is par for the course when it relates to a typical housing unit in jails, prisons, and ICE detention facilities.
On July 13th, Secretary Noem appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” where the Homeland Security secretary countered allegations parroted by host Kristen Welker that the newfound ICE facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz is tantamount to some sort of internment camp.
When asked about the housing conditions at the Florida-based detention facility, Noem stated, “Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high, now this is a state-run facility at Alligator Alcatraz,” before being interrupted by Welker who asked, “More than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell?”
The Homeland Security secretary pushed back against the talking point, emphasizing how left-leaning media outlets seemed to ignore synonymous or even worse housing conditions occurring under the Biden administration.
“I wish they would have said that back during the Biden administration and back when the Democrats were in the White House when they were piling people on top of each other on cement floors and they didn’t have two feet to move,” Noem said, adding, “They never did that, and that’s why this politics has to end.”
Secretary Noem then went on to address the characterization of the detention facilities being “jail cells,” telling the NBC host, “I would call them a facility where they are held and that are secure facilities, but are held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities.”
Welker’s uttered criticisms of Alligator Alcatraz comes on the heels of a visit to the facility by Democratic lawmakers on July 12th, where critics of the current administration fomented the characterization that the facility is somehow inhumane.
Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was among those who visited the facility earlier in July, telling reporters following the visit, “There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down. This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who is also a Democrat, was complicit in emboldening the narrative that the Trump administration is detaining American citizens at ICE facilities, telling reporters that she heard a detainee at the facility yell out, “I’m an American citizen!”
However, Republicans who toured the same facility bore a different outlook on the housing conditions, with Florida State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia saying, “The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality.”
Sen. Ingoglia’s colleague, Sen. Jay Collins, concurred with the sentiment that Democrats are overexaggerating on the housing conditions at Alligator Alcatraz.
“Would I want that toilet-and-sink combination at my bathroom at the house? Probably not,” Sen. Collins told members of the press following his visit but pointed out the detention center serves as a “transitional holding facility” and is par for the course when it relates to a typical housing unit in jails, prisons, and ICE detention facilities.
For corrections or revisions, click here.
The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2025-07-18T22:40-0400 | Comment by: Dennis
Funny but when I was in the US Navy and in my first ship, while laying in my rack(bunk) I could reach out and hand something to 26 other sailors and no one thought that was bad! Those illegals are living better in that place then they have ever lived. Ship all of the illegals out of my country.