State officials have shared little about the exact number of detainees being housed at the facility or the long-term plans for the site. Democratic lawmakers were initially blocked from visiting, then later reinvited for what they described as a "staged, scripted, and sanitized" tour. Immigration attorneys, who have had limited access to clients held at the site, have called it a "black hole." Most recently, the state quietly removed facility-related contracts from its public database.
But amid the state's broader information blackout, one detail has come into focus: the private ambulance company that appears to be ferrying detainees to and from the facility.
Videos captured by Jessica Namath — a South Florida environmental activist who runs the public Facebook group "Floridians for Public Lands" — show ambulances bearing the logo of National Health Transport (NHT), a Miami-based medical transport provider, leaving the facility.
Several ambulances with the National Health Transport (NHT) were recently spotted leaving the detention center.
Photo by Jessica Namath
Rodriguez is also the CEO of CREI Holdings, a development firm that owns Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater, according to Miami-Dade County property records. Rodriguez's father first bought the park in 1982.
Last November, CREI Holdings notified Li'l Abner residents that the park would be demolished and they'd need to leave by the end of May because the land was sold to build new housing. The firm offered residents a $14,000 incentive to leave the property by January, although many have said that figure is well below the value of their mobile homes.
In May, as protests and demolitions continued at the site, CREI filed official eviction notices against the hundreds of families who still live at the mobile home park. However, many of the residents have remained in their homes amid a class action lawsuit aimed at halting the evictions.
Raul Rodriguez is the CEO of CREI Holdings, which owns Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater. He also owns National Health Transport (NHT), which is currently providing ambulance services for Alligator Alcatraz.
Screenshot via CREI Holdings
Neither NHT nor CREI Holdings responded to New Times' requests for comment.
FDEM spokesperson Stephanie Hartman also did not respond to a request for comment.
While it remains unclear how many Alligator Alcatraz detainees have been hospitalized since the facility opened, several NHT ambulances have been spotted leaving the facility over the past few weeks.
HCA Kendall Florida Hospital previously told the Miami Herald that a detainee from Alligator Alcatraz was brought to the hospital for care on July 7. Although state officials denied there had been a medical emergency on site, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security later acknowledged on social media that the detainee had been sent to the hospital, but claimed he wasn't admitted and "returned to Alligator Alcatraz in about an hour and a half."
The hospital has since declined to share further information about detainee arrivals.No. First off, no one was hospitalized.
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) July 8, 2025
The detainee was transported, and Kendal did not admit him.
The detainee returned to Alligator Alcatraz in about an hour and a half. https://t.co/dNPzdfMiys
In response to New Times' inquiries about detainee hospitalizations, Jennifer Guerrieri, assistant vice president of strategic communications for HCA Healthcare's east Florida division, wrote via email: "There is nothing else for us to share. Thanks for understanding."
