’30 People Stuffed Into a Jail Cell?!’ NBC’s Kristen Welker Grills Kristi Noem On the ‘Inhumane’ Conditions at Alligator Alcatraz
NBC’s Kristen Welker grilled DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on the treatment of detainees at the controversial migrant detention center in Florida facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
In an interview on Meet the Press Sunday, Welker confronted Noem about the conditions at the detention center — which several Democratic lawmakers denounced on Saturday after getting a first-hand look.
“They are essentially packed into cages, wall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
Welker cited the criticism from the congresswoman while pressing Noem about the treatment of detainees at the facility.
“Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL] said that the conditions there are inhumane,” Welker said. “More than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell. She said they get their drinking water and they brush their teeth from the same place where they go to the bathroom, Madam Secretary. What do you say to these lawmakers who argue this is not humane treatment of individuals, of humans?”
Noem pointed out that Alligator Alcatraz is run by the state of Florida and not the federal government, but nonetheless defended the conditions at the detention center.
“Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons,” Noem said. “The standards are extremely high. Now, this is a state-run facility at Alligator Alcatraz—”
Welker interjected
“More than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell?!” Welker said.
“Well, I’ve been there and I’ve seen these rooms that they are in,” Noem said. “I wouldn’t call them ‘jail cells.’ I would call them a facility where they are held, and that are secure facilities — but are held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities.”
“Democrats have called them cages though!” Welker said.
“I wish they would have said tha back during the Biden administration and back when Democrats were in the White House and they were piling people on top of each other on cement floors and literally didn’t have two feet to move,” Noem said. “They never did that. And that’s why this politics has to end. We took cameras in there. We will take cameras in there and show people what these facilities look like. Because if you compare them to what happened under the Biden administration and under the Obama administration, these centers are at the highest levels. And they’re even higher than what our federal prison standards are or state or local often are.”
Watch above, via NBC.
