Jacksonville lawmaker calls ICE facilities ‘concentration camps’ reminiscent of southern slavery

Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville called two planned ICE holding facilities in the Everglades and Clay County “modern day concentration camps” that echo southern slavery in recent interviews.

Nixon, a Democrat, made waves during a CNN appearance this week where she criticized a $450 million detention center dubbed Alligator Alley that “disappears” illegal immigrants.

“Donald Trump’s blueprint for America has now become barbed wire and broken families,” she told the network.

A second center is slated to operate at Camp Blanding in Clay County, about 45 miles from downtown St. Augustine. The Florida National Guard training facility is expected to hold about 2,000 inmates.

Nixon addressed the local center in an interview with First Coast News.

“Now it’s coming to our backyard and the fact remains that these are makeshift concentration camps,” she said.

She said she found the locations especially objectionable given the area’s history.

“Especially down south in Alligator Alcatraz, you know, my people are resilient people, but once upon a time they were babies that were fed to alligators, so this is personal and not only that, even if I was not a descendant of slaves, I would be upset because this is not how you treat people,” she said.

Asserting that the initiatives are fueled by “xenophobia,” Nixon said the camps are reprising “the worst chapters in out history.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump have lauded the holding facilities as key cogs in the effort to stanch illegal immigration to the United States.

DeSantis said he believes those who have entered the country without engaging in formal legal processes will “self deport” rather than face stints in the two unforgiving facilities.

Construction at Camp Blanding is expected to begin next week.