
By Alexander J Schorr
July 4, 2025 (Everglades, FL) — Nearby President Trump’s Miami resort in the swamplands of the Florida Everglades sits a makeshift detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” the latest in his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Andrea Pitzer, author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, writes in an editorial published on MSNBC, “I visited four continents to write a global history of concentration camps. This facility’s purpose fits the classic model: mass civilian detention without real trials targeting vulnerable groups for political gain based on ethnicity, race, religion or political affiliation rather than for crimes committed. And its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.”
The term ‘concentration camp’ was in use for many years before the Germans used some as extermination camps, Pitzer notes. While most have been in foreign countries,notable exceptions were internment camps on U.S. soil set up to hold Japanese-Americans, including citizens, during World War II. President Ronald Reagan later apologized for their imprisonment and signed a measure granting reperation payments to those incarcerated.
Recent comments