Attorneys urge judge to visit Florida detention center to assess detainees’ access to lawyers

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for detainees at an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades want a federal judge to make an unscheduled, in-person visit to the facility to see firsthand if they are getting sufficient access to their lawyers.

Attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell on Friday to make the visit within the next two months to help assess whether detainees are allowed to meet with their attorneys in a confidential and regular manner. The facility was built this summer at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.

The detainees’ federal lawsuit claims that their attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detainees often are transferred to other facilities after their attorneys had made an appointment to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with ...