The answer could play a key role in a legal battle over the facility’s fate. And it has bigger implications, too.

A group of congressional Democrats is pushing officials at the DHS for more information about the use of the immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."

South Florida U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley have written a letter calling on the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and FEMA to provide detailed information regarding the operation of the Everglades immigration detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz.