"We had no idea where he was until he called us," Yaneisy told the BBC. "He said, 'mom, they took me to the facility of the crocodiles.' That's how he put it." The temporary immigration detention centre built in Florida's Everglades has quickly become a polarising symbol of President Donald Trump's immigration policy.

Now, just two months after it opened, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said it will be shutting it down, in compliance with a judge's orders. The process is already under way - border tsar Tom Homan told the BBC during a press conference that only about 50% of the detainees remain. The BBC spoke to the families of two inmates who were moved in the past month, who say that their loved ones disappeared into the system when they were at their most vulnerable.

That includes Yaneisy's son Michael Borrego Fernandez, who says he was left bleeding while in serious pain after a medical incident, before being moved to another facility. He is part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging inmates were denied in-person access to their lawyers. Built over eight days at the end of June in the Everglades, a protected wetlands famous for its alligators, the South Florida Detention Facility quickly became one of the most notorious immigration detention centres in the US.

Dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz", the facility was built to house about 3,000 people but was never at capacity, even as the number of individuals being held in immigration detention across the US reached a record-high of 59,000 as of mid-August. While it was open, it was a lightning rod for America's debate over Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Some came to visit the centre to protest, while others stopped by to take proud selfies with the "Alligator Alcatraz" sign outside.

When the facility first opened, the Florida Republican Party commissioned Alligator Alcatraz merchandise: t-shirts, caps and beer coolers. "People are fired up about the idea that we are finally closing the border and sending people who are here illegally who are committing crimes out of the country," said Florida GOP chair, Evan Power. (BBC)