A Jamaican man who was being held at Alligator Alcatraz, the detention centre in the Florida Everglades, which houses illegal migrants and which critics have condemned as being harsh, returned to the island on August 8, 2025, following a collaborative intervention by a diaspora group and the Jamaican Government.

The Jamaican, whose name has not been disclosed, is said to have overstayed his time in the US after his visa expired in September 2024.

A news release from the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council (GJDC) for the Northeast United States said the man’s plight was first brought to its attention after his sister in Jamaica contacted Michelle Tulloch-Neil, the GJDC’s representative for the Northeast US, on July 15, 2025.

Tulloch-Neil immediately implemented advocacy efforts including contacting immigration attorney Beverly Clarke for advice.

She subsequently dispatched a letter to Major General (Ret’d) Anthony Anderson, Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, requesting urgent intervention in the matter, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade was also engaged.

“A joint effort between Ambassador Anderson and Consul General Oliver Mair in Miami resulted in direct contact with the detention facility, resulting in the initiation of plans for the individual to self deport,” the GJDC said.

“He was subsequently transferred to smaller facility on July 30, and arrived in Jamaica on Friday [August 8] in good spirits,” the group added.

The man, who was arrested while driving in Florida, had been in the US for approximately two years. During the stop authorities discovered his visa had expired.

Last month news emerged that a Jamaican was among five migrants deported from the US to the African country of Eswatini. US authorities said then that “the five deportees to Eswatini were so uniquely barbaric their home countries have refused to take them back”.

The Jamaican was reportedly convicted of murder, for which he was sentenced to 25 years. He was also convicted of robbery, which resulted in him being sentenced to six years and possession of a weapon, which got him a six-month sentence.

Commenting on the claims that the countries of those deported to Eswatini had refused to take them back, Jamaica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade denied that it refused the return of any Jamaican. Instead, Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith said “the ministry has initiated enquiries with United States authorities to probe reports that a national of the island is among five migrants expelled from the US to an African country”.

“The Government has not refused the return of our nationals to Jamaica, and accordingly if the reports are confirmed, will continue its engagement with the US on the arrangements necessary to facilitate the individual’s return to Jamaica,” Johnson Smith said in a statement.

Commenting on the successful outcome of the current issue Tulloch-Neil said, “It reflects the strength of inter-agency collaboration and the unwavering commitment of the Government of Jamaica to the welfare of its citizens abroad.”

Last week, a US federal judge ordered a temporary pause to further construction of Alligator Alcatraz in a case filed by conservation groups.

District Judge Kathleen Williams issued the temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed against the Trump Administration by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The detention centre, built on the site of an abandoned airfield in the Big Cypress National Preserve, can continue to house immigration detainees, but the Miami-based judge ordered an immediate two-week halt to new construction while the suit proceeds.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity are arguing that the detention centre threatens the sensitive Everglades ecosystem and was hastily built without conducting the required environmental impact studies.

President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the centre last month, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.

The name Alligator Alcatraz is a reference to Alcatraz Island, the former prison on an island in San Franciso Bay that Trump recently said he wanted to reopen.

The conservation groups that filed the lawsuit welcomed the judge’s ruling.

— Harold Bailey, with additional reporting by AFP

OCHOPEE, Florida — Leo and Catherine Gentile hold signs near the entrance to the State-managed immigration detention centre dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, located at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Florida Everglades on August 3, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida. The couple were among a number of people protesting against the procedures used to detain people at the facility. (Photo: AFP)