Alligator Alcatraz, one of the 2 Italians detained: 'There are 32 of us in a cage'
In the migrant detention centre in Florida wanted by Donald Trump for possession of drugs without proper prescription, assault and battery on a person over 65 years old
3' min read
3' min read
"We are literally in a cage, like in a chicken coop. Let us out of this nightmare'. This is the appeal launched at the microphones of Tg2 by Gaetano Mirabella Costa, the Italian detained in the centre for illegal migrants, known as Alligator Alcatraz - the new detention centre for illegal migrants that rises in the Florida swamps, the famous Everglades populated by alligators, crocodiles and pythons, ed - for 8 days, to the Italian institutions. "I don't have the chance to talk to a lawyer or even a judge," adds the 45-year-old man of Sicilian origin, who denounces: "There are 32 of us in a cage, the toilets are open, everyone can see you." His mother, Rosanna Mirabella Costa, told Tg2 that the man had been brought to the hearing 'with chains on his feet and shackles on his hands'.
Mother detained in US: 'She tells me she hasn't seen the sun in 10 days'
"I've heard from my son, the only good thing is that he can talk on the phone. I've just come back from work, I don't feel like saying anything else at the moment". Thus Rosanna Mirabella Costa, mother of Gaetano Mirabella Costa.
"He told me 'mum I haven't seen the sun for ten days'. We talk on the phone, he lines up and calls us when it's his turn. I think the detention conditions are very harsh. At the moment we have not been contacted by anyone to deal with this situation. We hope,' he adds, 'that he will be able to return to Italy soon and we will do everything to make this happen. He lived in Florida in Gainsville. He went to the United States nine years ago to look for work and he is married'.
Angelo Torrisi, mayor of Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, the municipality where the Mirabella family lives, says he 'heard about the affair from the newspapers and TV'. "We are, however, in contact with the prefecture," he says, "certainly we would like to know more about the situation.
Two Italians detained in Florida's Alligator Alcatraz
.There are also two Italians in the detention centre for migrants in Florida, wanted by Donald Trump and nicknamed 'Alligator Alcatraz' because it is surrounded by swamps with crocodiles and pythons. This was reported by the Tampa Bay Times, which published a series of telephone interviews with seven inmates and some family members who denounced inhuman conditions. Among them, the newspaper writes on its website, is Fernando Eduardo Artese, 63 years old with a double Italian and Argentine passport, who was arrested at the end of June while trying to leave the United States to return to Argentina. "This is a concentration camp. They treat us like criminals, it's a quest for humiliation," Artese said, echoed by the Tampa Bay Times. "We are all workers and people fighting for our families."
