By Vihaan Bhatnagar and Damola Omole

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of suicide.

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students were shocked to learn that GardaWorld Federal Services, a U.S. subsidiary of GardaWorld, the company contracted by TMU for campus security, is staffing a detention centre in Florida knowns as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The company’s working relationship with the controversial immigration facility was disclosed in a report by The Miami Herald in July. 

“In no way would I have ever expected TMU to be even mildly affiliated with ‘Alligator Alcatraz’,” wrote third-year engineering student Hillary Santos in a message to The Eyeopener.

The value of the contract for Virginia-based GardaWorld Federal Services has been estimated to be up to US$8 million. 

“Alligator Alcatraz,” dubbed so by Florida state officials, is located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades. 

The detention centre has been under intense scrutiny since it was announced that it will be situated between a former airport and alligator-infested wetlands to prevent escapes. 

Santos was shocked by the connection between the security company and the centre. 

Before moving to Canada, Santos said her mother was an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. who she says “lived every day in fear of getting deported.” 

“In no way would I have ever expected TMU to be even mildly affiliated with Alligator Alcatraz”

A press release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in April, claimed they have arrested 66,463 people during the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Santos said seeing the current political climate in the U.S. makes her “sick to her stomach.”

On Aug. 22, a federal judge in Miami barred the DeSantis and Trump administration from bringing new detainees or expanding “Alligator Alcatraz” and ordered the facility to scale down operations within 60 days. The ruling states that the facility must also remove all generators, gas, sewage and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support the facility. It is unclear how the facility will operate without these resources.

The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, who requested an injunction over National Environmental Policy Act violations. The state of Florida has appealed this ruling. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida also joined the suit as plaintiffs. It remains unclear who operates the facility. 

GardaWorld Federal Services, has been awarded at least US$171 million by the U.S. government for 69 contracts mainly relating to embassy security, construction and maintenance, according to data from usaspending.gov.

Montreal-based GardaWorld and its Canadian subsidiaries have also been awarded contracts valued at over CA$853 million by the Canadian government since 2004, according to documents released by the government for proactive disclosure.

GardaWorld Federal Services is one of the companies that submitted proposals to the government of Florida to carry out a controversial migrant relocation program in 2023, according to documents obtained by The Miami Herald.

In a press release, Lois Frankel, U.S. representative for Florida’s 22nd district, called the facility “as cruel as it is reckless” and urged for it to be shut down. 

In July, Florida House Democrats introduced the “No Cages in the Everglades Act” in the House of Representatives. The bill would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE from contracting, operating or funding any immigration detention facility located in or adjacent to the Everglades. The bill is yet to pass.

GardaWorld also operates detention centres in Vancouver, Laval, Que., and Texas, according to a report by the American Friends Service Committee. 

In January 2022, 56-year-old Bryan Stone from Cincinnati died by suicide at an immigrant detention centre in Laval, operated by GardaWorld.

According to a public annual report released in 2023 by the Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS), there have been serious problems related to conditions of detention in many Canadian immigration centres. 

This includes inmates only being allowed out of their cells for less than two hours a day. The CRCS notes that two hours out of a cell is a threshold to define solitary confinement. 

Currently, GardaWorld has job postings available online for “Tactical Security Guards” at an immigration centre in Laval.

In an email statement to The Eye, the university said GardaWorld confirmed to them that “Garda staff on our campus are from a separate company, independent from the one that is operating in the U.S.”

The Eye reached out to GardaWorld but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

María Fernanda Salas Sánchez, a spokesperson for the Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) at TMU, said she found the news of the ties to the security company and the facilities “really disappointing.” 

Sánchez who is from Mexico and in her fourth-year of human resources management said, “it’s really sad to know that one of the places that’s supposed to be encouraging us to be proud of where we come from…[is] helping…[deport] people.”

“As cruel as it is reckless”

Many people detained at the facility don’t have criminal records, according to a report by CBS earlier this month. 

Inmates at the facility have said it lacks adequate medical care and is unsanitary, according to a July article by the Associated Press. 

The article includes claims of worms in food, toilets that don’t flush and floors flooding with fecal waste. DHS denied these allegations in a press release on Aug. 14.

On the same day, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison in North Florida. 

According to The Miami Herald, GardaWorld Cash, one of several companies affiliated with GardaWorld, gave US$5,000 in 2018 to a political action committee that was created to support Desantis’ first bid for governor.