A Cuban immigrant detained and held in Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility after about 25 years of legal U.S. status had his court hearing canceled last minute and without provided cause, according to his attorney.
Why It Matters
The abrupt cancellation of a scheduled immigration court hearing on July 23 for 31-year-old Gonzalo Almanza, a green card holder and U.S. permanent resident since 2000, ties to debate over due process, detainee treatment, and legal access at the recently opened immigration detention center in Florida’s Everglades region.
Almanza’s case echoes broader legal struggles facing migrants and permanent residents as lawyers and civil rights groups challenge the facility’s operations in court, arguing detainees are denied basic rights and access to counsel.
No record currently exists for Almanza within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database.
What To Know
Almanza, who arrived in the United States at the age of 6, has been detained at the Alligator Alcatraz facility since July 11.
His wife, Aschly Valdez, said Almanza was taken into custody by immigration authorities because of a past racketeering charge, despite ongoing efforts to fulfill legal obligations and restitution.
“Yes, Gonzalo made a bad decision, but he’s paying his restitution, he’s doing everything right,” Valdez said, according to NBC Miami. “It’s extremely stressful, worrisome because we don’t hear from him.”
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“My son is asking for his dad every single day. You know it’s heartbreaking,” Valdez added.
The couple’s son was born in 2018.
Almanza’s immigration attorney, Anna Weiser of firm Smith & Eulo, obtained a court date for July 23, offering hope he might be granted bond.
However, the hearing was canceled without notice, with a court clerk informing Weiser that the court had “no jurisdiction” in the matter—a pattern reportedly affecting other detainees from the same facility, according to NBC Miami.
“She told me the hearing is not moving forward; in fact there is no hearing,” Weiser said.
Weiser, who has four different clients at the Alligator Alcatraz facility, told Newsweek on Tuesday via phone that there have been no new developments yet in Almanza’s case.
“I haven’t been able to visit him … The only way he talks to me is through this non-confidential phone line, which every two minutes or so there’s a system saying that you’re being recorded and monitored, so we can’t really discuss the case or anything like that,” she said. “I’m not able to see him for him to review documents for court, for him to sign documents.
“So, this is unprecedented [to have] no access to my client, period. And he’s still there.”
She also said that Almanza’s past racketeering charge has long been “fully resolved” and that he hasn’t had any further legal issues or parole violations.
“He paid restitution,” she said. “He was complying fully with probation. He took the plea deal, and he was just immediately transported to the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility and placed into custody there.”
Weiser said Almanza was actually meeting with his probation officer as part of a routine check-in visit when he was detained.
“He was doing everything in terms of probation,” Weiser said. “He was just in the middle of his probation visit and the ICE officers came in…and picked him up, no notice, no opportunity to say goodbye to the family or anything. And then he’s been directly transported to Alligator.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, during a Friday press conference held at Alligator Alcatraz, was asked about attorneys having access to their clients inside the facility that was rapidly constructed to house up to 400 migrants, green card holders, and non-citizens pending potential deportation.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie was instructed by DeSantis to answer the question, stating, “We should have our first set of onsite legal representation no later than Monday.”
But Weiser told Newsweek that days later, she still has not received any response from the state when it comes to physically seeing Almanza.
Civil rights lawyers have filed lawsuits against federal and state authorities, alleging that the facility’s detainees—including lawful residents—are being held without charges, denied attorney access, and coerced into signing deportation orders.
Reports indicate that more than 100 people have already been deported in this manner.
State and federal officials claim improvements have been made following lawsuits, including videoconference facilities and allowing some in-person legal meetings. However, reports from legal representatives and detainees indicate ongoing barriers to routine access and hearings.
Almanza and dozens of others have criticized the reported conditions inside the facility, describing them as inhumane and isolating, while his family reports limited communication with him.
“I have grown men calling me and crying, it’s horrific really,” Weiser said. “They call me at midnight…and I do take the call a lot of the time. I can’t even describe [the conditions] to you, like pure torture. Like, it’s just designed to wear them out.”
She said her clients have told her of roof leaks, constantly overflowing toilets, lights being on at all times of day, detained individuals being placed in small cages with grown adults. Cameras are installed everywhere, even directly near the toilet where “they are watched every second.”
What People Are Saying
Eunice Cho, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, referred to an attempted temporary restraining order against Alligator Alcatraz as an “emergency situation,” telling the Associated Press: “Officers at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ are going around trying to force people to sign deportation orders without the ability to speak to counsel.”
Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in a statement: “What’s happening here is not just a policy failure, it’s a moral one. The state has hastily erected a costly and deadly shadow prison in the middle of the Everglades during hurricane season to warehouse human beings—stripping them of due process and dignity, cutting them off from their families and legal counsel, intentionally putting their lives in danger, and leaving them to suffer in silence. This is how rights are erased.”
What Happens Next
U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz has scheduled an in-person hearing for August 18, seeking more information on due process, attorney access, and the jurisdictional authority pertaining to the detentions. The hearing will examine access to counsel, canceled bond hearings, and the legal status of detainees at Alligator Alcatraz.
The outcomes could set legal precedents for immigrant detention policies nationwide.