Congressional candidates clash over donations tied to Alligator Alcatraz

Two candidates vying to succeed South Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson sparred over who accepted campaign donations from a firm that helped operate the recently closed Everglades immigration detention center, known as Alligator Alcatraz.

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On Monday, state Sen. Shevrin Jones released a campaign video slamming his opponent, County Commissioner and former Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, for accepting a $70,000 donation from CDR, a Miami-based emergency management company.

Since the Everglades detention center opened last summer, the company, whose executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, are allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis and donated to his failed presidential campaign, secured more than $210 million in contracts with the DeSantis administration to provide services to its state-run immigration detention centers.

Duart also served as a DeSantis appointee to the Florida International University board of trustees, while Vidal-Duart was previously a board member of Casey DeSantis’ embattled Hope Florida Foundation.

At Alligator Alcatraz, the company was contracted to provide medical services and “site prep” according to records in the state’s contracting system.

The company also formed a joint venture with the private prison company Geo Group last year to secure a $99 million contract to staff the North Florida state-run detention center, Deportation Depo.

An analysis by the Miami Herald found that CDR had donated $105,000 to incumbents in the Miami-Dade County government, the bulk of which went to Gilbert.

Jones, who toured the Everglades facility last summer, questioned Gilbert’s ability to stand up to President Donald Trump and fight for South Florida.

“You cannot claim to be a champion for people and someone South Florida can count on to uphold human dignity while quietly taking money from the companies that get paid per detainee, per bed, per day,” he said in a statement.

CDR money in Jones’ campaigns

Gilbert’s campaign immediately fired back, calling Jones’s attack “hypocritical and disingenuous.”

Ben Pollara, a senior advisor for Gilbert, said in a statement that Jones “took 5 figures from both the contractor that built Alligator Alcatraz and a private prison company that has worked with ICE and contributed to the school-to-prison pipeline.”

“As a State Senator, it was his job to oversee our state prison system and detention facilities like Alligator Alcatraz. Instead, he showed up for a photo-op and took cash from the entities he was supposed to regulate,” Pollara said in a statement.

A spokesperson for CDR said Monday that Jones “is criticizing Oliver Gilbert for accepting support from CDR while omitting that he has also solicited and happily accepted contributions from our company.”

“CDR has supported leaders and civic initiatives across the political spectrum, and our contributions have never changed the fact that our work in the Everglades was limited to contracted professional services just as we provide for hurricane relief and support during the COVID pandemic,” the spokesperson said.

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CDR Maguire supported Jones’ campaign when he first ran for senate in 2020, with a $2,500 donation to his PAC Florida Strong Finish and another $5,000 donation in 2021. His PAC has not received any donations from the company since then.

In 2019, the PAC received $5,000 from Boca Raton-based private and state prison operator The Geo Group, which is also an ICE contractor. The group donated $2,500 in 2024 and again in 2026. A spokesperson with the campaign said he returned those funds in 2019 and plans to return the 2024 and 2026 funds.

Jones told the Herald he is not interested in a back-and-forth with Gilbert’s campaign and wanted to focus on the issues of the people.

“I vote against anything or anyone that doesn’t align with the people who elected me,” he said, “and that’s what I hope people will continue to see moving forward.”

A packed race for a prestigious seat

Gilbert and Jones, both sons of pastors, began their campaigns from the pulpit last June, promising to continue the legacy of Federica Wilson, a longtime congresswoman who chose not to run for reelection this year after serving Florida’s 24th District since 2011.

In addition to Gilbert and Jones, there are eight other candidates running for Wilson’s seat: Kendrick Meek Jr., grandson and son of late Congresswoman Carrie Meek and Kendrick Meek; longtime director of the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center Marshall L. Davis; attorney Rod Vereen; former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime, entrepreneur Te Mayonna Brown, physician Rudy Moise, Patricia Gonzalez and Andy Daro.

Wilson endorsed Gilbert at a June event where she passed a symbolic torch and asked her supporters to stand behind him.

Gilbert’s contributions from CDR were brought up by Meek at a recent candidate forum at Florida Memorial University in which Gilbert, Jones, Meek and four other candidates fielded questions about affordability, education, immigration and other pressing issues.

Candidates were asked if they support legislation requiring full disclosure of all political donors, all candidates said yes, but Meek took it a step further criticizing Gilbert’s PAC for accepting CDR money. “There are people on the stage that have super PACs that are actively influencing this election,” he said. “One of those super PACs is actually financed by a contractor for Alligator Alcatraz, and they took $70,000 from this particular contractor, and they’re spending it in this race. So, make sure you do your research and stay focused.”

The controversial detention center has been a point of contention since it opened last year, with Jones and other state delegates making failed attempts to visit the facility, where immigrants being held there had complained about dire conditions, they were turned away at the gate. The state senator and other legislators sued the DeSantis administration, alleging it overstepped its authority by denying them entry to the detention camp.

Democratic leaders who visited the detention facility quickly erected on an airstrip in the middle of the Everglades have questioned the more than a billion dollars spent by the DeSantis administration, through no-bid contracts, to house immigrants in cages under white industrial tents.

As of Monday, the facility appears to have been completely shut down. An aerial view of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition airstrip showed that all tents, diesel generators, and trailers had been removed. The runway is stripped bare.

At the front gate, the blue sign that once read “Alligator Alcatraz” was taken down, and the original airport sign was put back up.

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