Florida lawmakers and members of Congress will be able to visit Alligator Alcatraz on Saturday, after some Democratic legislators last week were denied access to inspect the facility.

The narrative is that only violent criminals are being sent to Alligator Alcatraz,” attorney Phillip Arroyo said. “We don’t know why [he was sent there] because he has legal status.”

The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has invited members of Congress and state legislators to a scheduled, 90-minute tour of the facility.

OCHOPEE, Fla. (CBS12) — Florida lawmakers have been extended an invitation to visit Alligator Alcatraz. So far, the state lawmakers include Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Darren Soto (FL-9), Maxwell Frost (FL-10) and Jared Moskowitz (FL-23).

Trail guide John Kalafarski wears a bug shirt to fend off mosquitoes as he walks a trail in the Everglades near the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz.” Kalafarski and others who live and work in the area think people have a misconception about the Everglades. They call it home. By PHOTO BY AL DIAZ

State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, said Wednesday that he’s accepted an invitation from the DeSantis administration to tour the controversial Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in the Everglades.

Detainees are telling their families about what it’s like to live in cells inside heavy-duty tents erected on an airstrip in Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.

A Florida bishop is criticizing recent public statements from public officials supporting a new detention facility for illegal immigrants in the Everglades as “obviously intentionally provocative” and demeaning the dignity of people who will be held there.