(NewsNation) — Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice say many detainees held at the Florida immigration detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" have never been in removal proceedings, directly contradicting what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened in July.

Attorneys for the DOJ argued Thursday in a court filing that the detainees at the facility in the Everglades are housed with immigration detainees "in all stages" of the process, and they don't have enough in common to be certified as a class in a lawsuit over whether they're getting proper access to attorneys.

A removal proceeding is a legal process initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine if someone should be deported from the United States.

That directly contradicts DeSant

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