MIAMI >> The first detainees arrived at Alligator Alcatraz late Wednesday night, even as the immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades has already faced some operational issues with security and water intrusion.

In a surprising and possibly unlawful act, five state legislators were denied entry Thursday into a taxpayer-funded migrant detention center deep in the Everglades, raising questions about what will happen behind the razor-wire fences that are being erected surrounding the controversial facility the state has named Alligator Alcatraz.