The Californer - Week 47 Final Freedom Vigil at Alligator Alcatraz: Truth Out

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NEW YORK - Californer -- Sun. 06/21, 3:45 Week 47 Final Freedom Vigil at Alligator Alcatraz: Truth Out

What: The final Freedom Vigil outside the gates of the cruelly-named Alligator Alcatraz detention center to demand the detention camp be officially shut down, that people who were detained here and across the country be freed, and that the immoral ICE abductions, detentions, deportations and disappearances of our neighbors, family members, and friends be ended.

Who:

José Gregorio Pérez, previously detained at Alligator Alcatraz, and freed by the Freedom Advocate campaign of the Workers Circle and Sanctuary of the South
Family members whose loved ones who were or are detained at Alligator Alcatraz
Leaders of faith and conscience from many traditions, unions, students, immigrant rights groups, civic groups, veterans, small business owners and the wider public
Freedom Advocate Attorneys working with the Workers Circle and Sanctuary of the South will be onsite providing families whose loved ones have been detained at Alligator Alcatraz with advice on their legal rights
This week's vigil is coordinated by

The Rev. Arthur Jones, Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Fort Myers
Noelle Damico, Director of Social Justice at the Workers Circle, a national, secular Jewish social justice organization with over 250,000 people in its activist community.

When/Where: Sunday 06/21, Freedom Vigil from 4:00-5:00PM

Across from entrance to Alligator Alcatraz on Route 41

54585 Tamiami Trl E, Ochopee, FL 34141

Coordinates: 25.861821,-80.898036

Why: Late on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that they have moved all people detained in Alligator Alcatraz out of the brutal detention camp. On Thursday, a leaked layoff notice from GuardaWorld, one of the contractors, said their services would cease on June 26. This confirms earlier reporting by the NY Times that people who were detained would be moved out at the beginning of June and the site broken down in subsequent weeks.

This Sunday will be the final Freedom Vigil at Alligator Alcatraz as the government winds down operations. Its closure cannot come soon enough for the people who have been detained there, their families.

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José Gregorio Pérez, previously detained at Alligator Alcatraz, and freed this past week through a habeas petition filed by Freedom Advocates, the new initiative of the Workers Circle and Sanctuary of the South joining grassroots advocacy and legal advocacy, will speak at the vigil about the conditions he experienced and witnessed inside this brutal detention camp. Other people who have previously been detained and their families members will speak about the violations of Constitutional rights, beatings, denials of medical treatment, inside and the unmitigated anguish of their family members being transferred elsewhere in the nation for continued detention. Since Donald Trump took office in January of 2025, 48 people have died in ICE detention.

For forty-seven consecutive weeks, the freedom vigil at Alligator Alcatraz has brought together families who loved ones were detained, people who were detained, the wider immigrant community who is under direct attack, and a broad base of everyday people – veterans, faith leaders, school teachers, unions, small business owners, immigrant rights groups, cultural organizations to denounce Alligator Alcatraz as inhumane, immoral, and un-American. People of all political backgrounds – Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents – united under the banner of Constitutional rights and our common human decency. The vigils brought enormous public pressure, constant press attention, lawmaker visits, as well as generating an investigation into the use of torture at Alligator Alcatraz.

"We, the people" have forced them to retreat on Alligator Alcatraz, the most prized symbol and blueprint of Trump's detention/deportation regime," said Noelle Damico, Director of Social Justice at the Workers Circle which has spearheaded vigils and organized the large coalition of groups involved. "Through forty-seven weeks of freedom vigils we built relationships of trust between the people who are or were detained and their families and everybody else. From that unshakeable foundation, grew this broad and powerful coalition of thousands of people and dozens of organizations who have taken down the "jewel in the crown" of the Trump detention/deportation regime. We shone the light of truth on what they wanted done in darkness. We have won this critical battle, and the way we did it, with regular people shows that it can be done anywhere. This battle is won, but the war that the Trump and DeSantis administrations are waging against immigrants and our Constitutional rights continues. We will not rest until we end this everywhere and until all who have designed, run, and profited off this national edifice of brutality and lawlessness are held accountable."

More on The Californer

The freedom vigil at Alligator Alcatraz has inspired a national movement of freedom vigils across the nation which will not rest until the lawless and vicious abductions, detention, deportation and disappearance of our neighbors, family members, and friends comes to an end.

"The work is not done. We will continue our advocacy for the basic universal human rights for all people who are detained wherever they may be held and their families. The mission remains. So we will keep showing up across Florida and across the nation, we will keep fighting for that which is right because that's what best exemplifies America," said the Rev. Arthur Jones, Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Ft. Myers, who has led vigils and coordinated buses, and has worked with press since the vigil's inception.

The numerous suits against Alligator Alcatraz continue despite the wind-down. And the freedom vigil at Alligator Alcatraz joins our voices with those of the Friends of the Everglades in calling for the government to officially shut down Alligator Alcatraz: "no airports, no rock mines, no prisons; only Everglades."

As the shut-down of Alligator Alcatraz continues, the Workers Circle and Sanctuary of the South have joined forces to launch an unprecedented intervention: to give every unrepresented person who has been detained in Alligator Alcatraz sound legal counsel, and a real shot at securing their release. Over 60 people have already received legal counsel and many habeas petitions have been filed. Several people have now walked free from ICE detention, even after being transferred elsewhere. Immigration lawyers will be at the freedom vigil this week. Families whose loved ones have been detained in Alligator Alcatraz and need legal counsel can reach out during the vigil or to Sanctuary of the South at 754-330-0948 or email sos@sanctuaryofthesouth.com or to sign up for a legal consultation.

Sunday vigils outside Alligator Alcatraz began on August 3, 2025 and have continued weekly, drawing 100-300 people away for as long as people were being detained at the facility in reprehensible conditions. We will remain vigilant and are prepared to resume should the government return people to detention in this hideous detention camp.

More background: http://freedomvigils.org. Additional Quotes on the anticipated shut down of Alligator Alcatraz from union leaders, religious leaders, community leaders, small business leaders, veterans and more are below.

Media Contacts:
Noelle Damico, The Workers Circle, ndamico@circle.org, 914-525-7040
Rev. Arthur Jones, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Ft. Myers, revart@uucfm.org, 229-393-7573