DHS denies hunger strike at Alligator Alcatraz despite Cuban detainee’s two-week protest

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday denied the existence of a hunger strike at the Alligator Alcatraz detention center, despite the fact that Cuban detainee Pedro Lorenzo Concepción has gone 14 days without food in protest over the uncertainty he faces at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The immigrant himself confirmed to EL PAÍS in a phone call from Florida that he is “too weak” but is continuing his hunger strike. “I’m still at it today, I’m still without food,” he stated. “Truth will take you wherever you want to go, I refuse any help. Check the security cameras if you want.”

The Cuban man said he was transferred to a different detention center in Florida over the weekend. The transfer came after local media picked up the story of his protest, first reported by EL PAÍS on July 31. On Monday morning, the DHS announced in a tweet that the allegations of hunger strikes at Alligator Alcatraz were “fake news” and that “there is NO hunger strike at Alligator Alcatraz.”

Hours later, the department reiterated this position in a statement to EL PAÍS: “Here are the facts: there is no hunger strike at Alligator Alcatraz. Unfortunately, this is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that the media has repeated inaccurate and unsubstantiated accusations about illegal immigrant detention centers,” added the Department’s deputy secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, in an email.

The truth is that Lorenzo Concepción, 44, is no longer on a hunger strike at Alligator Alcatraz, not because he ended his protest, but because he was transferred on Saturday to another detention center, Krome, also in Florida. EL PAÍS asked DHS about the reason for the Cuban’s transfer and his health status, but received no response.

Several videos provided by Thomas Kennedy, a political analyst with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, show trucks and ambulances leaving Alligator Alcatraz over the weekend. Daimarys Hernández, wife and mother of two of Lorenzo Concepción’s children, claims the transfer was strategic. “They took him out to be able to say there was no hunger strike at Alcatraz. And they kept him isolated, separated from everyone.”

On Saturday night, Lorenzo Concepción called his wife from Alligator Alcatraz to inform her that he had been told he would be transferred to another center. However, he did not say where, nor did he provide any other details. Early Sunday morning, Hernández—who until now had searched for her husband’s name on the official DHS website and had not found it—was able to confirm that the man was in ICE custody at Krome. On Sunday, she hadn’t heard from him. On Monday morning, she received a call from him: Lorenzo Concepción’s voice was increasingly weak, he had aches and he could barely walk on his own. At the center, they had provided him with a wheelchair.

According to the Cuban migrant, once at Krome, he was isolated from the other detainees and taken to a punishment cell. The authorities at the new center also informed him that they would not recognize him as being on a hunger strike until he had gone three days without eating, despite the fact that he has been on a hunger strike for almost two weeks. “After he refuses nine meals there, they will recognize that he is on a hunger strike. They start counting from the day he arrived at Krome, not the other days he has gone without eating; that doesn’t matter to them,” his wife says.

Lorenzo Concepción was detained on July 8 by ICE during an appointment at their Miramar offices, where he had routinely attended every year since losing his permanent resident status more than 10 years ago after being found guilty of watching over a house with marijuana crops and then serving as a chauffeur for people involved in credit card theft. “He is a convicted drug trafficker and has been accused of carrying a concealed weapon. Once again, the media is quick to believe a convicted criminal instead of ICE agents,” McLaughlin asserted.

For a long time now, however, Lorenzo Concepción had been focused on his work at AVS, an audiovisual services company, and on the family that he started. His relatives never imagined that, even today, he would have to pay for a crime committed in his youth. “If you made a mistake and paid for it, why does it still haunt you years later? And how long are you going to keep paying for something you have already paid for?” his wife asked in previous statements.

On July 22, the migrant decided he was going to stop eating, seeing that the days were passing and no one gave him a clear answer about his situation. He was also fed up with a center where living conditions are difficult, amid complaints about limited food, mosquito infestations, COVID infections, limited privacy, filth, and where they are allowed to shower only three times a week. “ICE is the one who decides about my life,” Lorenzo Concepción told EL PAÍS. “And since my life no longer belongs to me, it’s up to them to decide whether I live or die.”

During his time at Alligator Alcatraz, Lorenzo Concepción was taken to Kendall Hospital, despite the Florida Department of Emergency Management denying that they had anyone hospitalized from that facility. Although doctors tried to convince him to eat, the Cuban man signed a document stating his intention not to receive any type of food. “I don’t want food, I refuse any treatment,” he insisted. At Alligator Alcatraz, he was also taken to the on-site medical center after his fellow inmates drew attention to his visible physical deterioration.

“For the record: During the hunger strikes, ICE continues to provide three meals a day, delivered to the detained alien’s room, and an adequate supply of drinking water or other beverages. Ensuring the safety and well-being of those in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” McLaughlin said in her statement. During fiscal year 2025, there have been approximately 13 deaths of migrants in ICE custody.

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