Key to the marketing ploy underpinning Florida's detention camp in the Everglades is the alligator, portrayed by Republican leaders as a blood-thirsty prison guard ready to attack anyone who escapes.

“Alligator Alcatraz” is the insulting name Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has given the inhumane detention center he has erected in the Everglades to house immigrants rounded up in the Trump administration’s draconian assault on allegedly undocumented people living in the United States.

This is one of many problems with illegal immigration: individuals are in our country without any way to verify their identity,’ a spokesperson for the agency that oversees the facility said

Editor's note: The little-used airstrip in the Everglades that the state is using to build a detention center for immigrants, dubbed " Alligator Alcatraz ," is part of a storied history involving Palm Beach County at one point.

Newsweek spoke with the attorney of a detainee and the friend of another. Both described harrowing conditions at the remote facility.

This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.