Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pushed back against claims from Democrat lawmakers that the conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz” are “inhumane.”
Noem’s comments came in response to “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, who asked her about a recent assessment of the detention facility from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
“Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that the conditions there are inhumane: more than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell,” Welker noted. “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 insisted the standards are “extremely high” and based on her experience, she “wouldn't call them ‘jail cells.’”
"Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons," she explained.
“Democrats have called them cages though,” countered Welker.
“I wish they would have said that… 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 fired back. "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."
NBC’s Welker echoes the Wasserman-Schultz Alligator Alcatraz rhetoric to Noem:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 13, 2025
"Democrats have called them cages!" https://t.co/qHyS2HFAgg pic.twitter.com/K3Zt5vW9BY