

Democracy Now! 2025-09-25 Thursday
Sep 25, 2025
Sherzha Dasgupta, a Miami Herald reporter, reveals shocking details about detainees vanishing from the Alligator Alcatraz facility. She discusses how her investigation uncovered hundreds of missing records and the plight of families like the Borrego Fernandezs who struggle to find information. Lee Gelernt from the ACLU explains the U.S.'s troubling trend of deporting refugees to third countries as a way to bypass court rulings, raising human rights concerns. Together, they shed light on the grim realities of immigration enforcement and its impact on vulnerable families.
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Detainees Dropped Off ICE Locator
- The Miami Herald found two-thirds of ~1,800 Alligator Alcatraz detainees disappeared from ICE's online database after July.
- Families and attorneys cannot locate many detainees, raising transparency and due-process concerns.
Roster Match Shows Major Tracking Gaps
- Journalists obtained two rosters listing ~1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz in July and matched them to ICE records.
- Around 800 had no records and ~450 were labeled "call ICE for details," showing large gaps in tracking.
Michael Borrego Fernandez Case
- Sherzha detailed Michael Borrego Fernandez's move from Alligator Alcatraz to other facilities and eventual deportation to Mexico.
- His lawyer and family experienced repeated runarounds between ICE and detention centers before learning he'd been deported.