By MIKE SCHNEIDER
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for detainees at a state-run immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades said Thursday that they are still facing hurdles in getting access to their clients, despite state claims that those barriers have been removed.
Two attorneys filed statements with a federal court in Fort Myers, Florida, saying their clients were unable to call them using staff cellphones, and the attorneys were unable to make unannounced visits to the facility.
A state contractor late last month testified that both options were available to detainees and attorneys during a hearing over whether detainees at the facility were getting adequate access to their lawyers. US District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has yet to rule on whether to grant the detainees’ request that they get the same access to their attorneys as detainees do at federally-run detention centers.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management, the state agency overseeing the detention center, did not respond to an e-mailed inquiry on Thursday. The Everglades facility was built last summer at a remote airstrip by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Florida has also built a second immigration detention center in north Florida.
The former Everglades detainees’ lawsuit claims that their First Amendment rights were violated. They say their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees are often transferred to other facilities before their attorneys’ appointments to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.
State officials who are defendants in the lawsuit have denied restricting the detainees’ access to their attorneys and cited security and staffing reasons for any challenges. Federal officials who are also defendants denied that detainees’ First Amendment rights were violated.
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