DeSantis makes plans to hold immigrant detainees in North Florida prison
As a federal judge weighs whether to temporarily shut down Alligator Alcatraz, the DeSantis administration is making plans to turn a vacant North Florida prison into an immigration detention center for more than 1,000 people.
“We are calling this the deportation depot,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Thursday. “This will be operational soon. It is not going to take forever, but we are also not rushing to do this right this day.”
The governor framed the move as an effort to meet the need for “additional capacity” beyond what’s available at Alligator Alcatraz. But as of Thursday, the Everglades facility held roughly 600 people — far below the approximately 1,400 detainees held at the site at the beginning of the month, sources said.
The move suggests the administration may be backing away from plans to expand Alligator Alcatraz to hold up to 3,000 people, at least for now.
Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking construction at the site as she weighs whether to shut down the detention camp’s operations over environmental concerns. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said she plans to rule no later than Aug. 21.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the site’s operations, did not respond to a request seeking comment. Neither did the Department of Homeland Security, which has custody over immigrant detainees.
If Alligator Alcatraz were to shut down, it would be a blow to the DeSantis administration, which built the makeshift camp in eight days on an airfield to support President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign. The site — which over the last month has housed hundreds of immigrant detainees in tents and cage-like cells — was seen as a potential model for the rest of the country.
As the court decision looms, DeSantis is turning his focus to Baker Correctional Institution, a vacant prison located in a rural area between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. The governor said the prison will be able to house up to 1,300 detainees and noted that there is a nearby airport that could serve as an option for deportation flights.
In June, DeSantis said he would be willing to open a second facility if there was demand for one. He floated Camp Blanding, the Florida National Guard base located southeast of Jacksonville, as a possibility — but on Thursday, he said the location did not have a “big enough runway to handle large planes” for deportations.
“Ultimately, you do want to get 200 illegal aliens on a plane and fly them back to their country, so you do need bigger planes,” the governor said.
DeSantis said the state prison, located in Sanderson, made more sense because the infrastructure already exists — otherwise it would have cost about $6 million to build out the site at Camp Blanding.
“So, this really makes sense logistically,” he said.
The governor added that while the federal government will still reimburse the state for the cost of launching a second immigration detention center, he wants to make sure his administration is “as cost effective as possible.”
By comparison, Alligator Alcatraz has been a costly endeavor, with more than $200 million committed to private vendors as of late July, according to records reviewed by the Miami Herald.
DeSantis previously said he backed the idea of opening a second immigration detention facility if there was demand for one. On Thursday, he said the time had come.
“We have reached that point where I’m confident that we need additional capacity beyond what we’re already doing down in South Florida,” DeSantis said Thursday.
He added that the state “wants to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country.”
“That is the name of the game,” DeSantis said.
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 9:45 AM.