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.

On July 16, days after the first media investigations about sparse criminal backgrounds among the population were published, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., characterized the migrants at Alligator Alcatraz as "military-age males, and a lot of them have criminal records."

Universities bending a knee to protect themselves rather than protecting their principles and students represent a frightening unraveling.

Detainees at Alligator Alcatraz described limited access to water and fresh air, saying they received only one meal a day and that the lights are on 24/7.

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.

R. Bruce Anderson writes that whatever your political position may be, taking pleasure in the misery of other humans is spiritually corrupt.

Don’t call it ‘Alligator Auschwitz,’ writes columnist Scott Maxwell. But do get informed about the human-rights allegations and secretive, no-bid contracts being handed out in Florida.

Some people detained at the facility have violent criminal histories. But data and news reports about the first month’s arrivals show the majority of Alligator Alcatraz’s detainees do not have U.S. criminal convictions.