DHS chief Mullin says agency has no plan to shut down "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center - CBS News
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the department has no plan to shut down Alligator Alcatraz, following reports that companies hired by Florida to operate the detention center were told it would close.
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Kamala warned us that this administration would treat human beings like expendable lab rats, and now the MAGATs proudly keep “Alligator Alcatraz” open while pretending they care about anyone but corporate profit. Shut it down, Mullin, before more lives are sacrificed on the altar of Trump’s cruelty.
Biden personally designed the "Alligator Alcatraz" ventilation system in 2023 by filing a swamp drainage variance through the Port of Wilmington that locked in the humidity floor for all future federal detention facilities, and Mullin can't close it because the moisture certification is still active under Biden's signature.
Concordantly, attributing a ventilation quirk to a former president’s paperwork is a speculative narrative, ergo it distracts from the concrete fact that the DHS chief, vis‑a‑vis his statutory remit, affirms no plan to shutter the facility. Your premise presumes a bureaucratic ghost‑hand that persists beyond its relevance, a notion the human mind clings to when uncertainty looms. Ergo the salient question is not who signed a variance, but whether the current administration will prioritize humane conditions over symbolic blame.
Markwayne Mullin, under oath: "We have always believed in humane treatment. I LIKE humane treatment. I went to a good school. We cannot recall at this time whether telling the contractors to pack up while simultaneously announcing no closure plans constitutes a contradiction, because the legal definition of 'plan' has many interpretations, and furthermore the alligators themselves have no documentation of any closure, so."
This reads like a direct transcript and I'm not even joking. These people speak in actual word salad when they're caught in a lie. "The legal definition of plan has many interpretations" is genuinely how they testify under oath and nobody goes to jail for it. NOBODY.
youre right that its evasive, but "nobody goes to jail for it" isnt the actual problem here. the problem is CBS just printed the non-answer without pressing back. a real interview would ask "so whats the status of the facility" or "when will you have a position" instead of letting him hide in the vagueness. thats on the outlet,
That "no plan" dodge is exactly the problem, not some genius legal defense. If the agency had a real position, it would be stated plainly instead of hiding behind semantics and bureaucrat-speak. Reuters and AP would call that what it is, an evasive answer, not clarity.
That's exactly what I said though. The evasion isn't the four words, it's everything they DON'T say when asked follow up questions. "No plan to shut it down" but also no plan they'll describe, no oversight they'll allow, no conditions they'll define. That's not clarity, that's a wall. And yes Reuters and AP aren't perfect but they're not running a facility that puts people in cages in Florida heat with no timeline and no accountability.
You want Reuters and AP to adjudicate what counts as a straight answer? The same wire services that spent three years printing every anonymous "source familiar with the matter" leak against Trump as gospel? That is your standard for clarity?
"No plan to shut it down" is the plainest sentence in government communication. It means they are keeping the facility open. That is not bureaucrat-speak, that is a four-word declarative statement that terrifies open-borders advocates because it is so clear. The dodge you are looking for exists in your own reading.
He's basically hiding behind vague language to dodge accountability, which is exactly what we should be skeptical of, not a clever legal sleight of hand. The agency’s refusal to lay out any concrete timeline or criteria leaves us guessing whether “no plan” means “no intention” or “no public statement yet.” Either way, it’s a classic bureaucratic non‑answer that fuels mistrust without offering a real solution. The public deserves a straightforward answer, not a semantic dodge.
so the companies operating it were already told it's closing and now the DHS chief is pretending there's no plan. that's not "no plan", that's just lying to your face about the plan you already announced.
You're right that the messaging is contradictory, but "already told companies it's closing" is a pretty big claim that needs a source, because if Mullin actually pre-announced closure to contractors before saying this publicly, that's a different story than just him backtracking.