State planning to wind down and close Alligator Alcatraz in coming weeks
The DeSantis administration is winding down operations at the pop-up immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” and intends to shut it down as soon as June, according to new reports.
The reports, confirmed by two sources familiar with the matter, said the DeSantis administration on Tuesday notified private contractors working for the state-run facility that it was closing the controversial facility by June. The two sources said discussions of closing the remote Everglades facility began in recent weeks as hurricane season approaches.
“With hurricane season coming, it’s probably a good idea to move along,” said one source close to the operation. “It wasn’t an immediate decision. And it wasn’t a six-month-in-the-making kind of thing.”
Officials are expected to transfer detainees out of the facility in the coming weeks, with the complex to be dismantled afterward. The facility, operated by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, houses nearly 1400 detainees, according to the most recently available ICE detention data, from April. Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters last week that more than 22,000 people have been held in the metal cages at the facility, which opened last July following a visit by President Donald Trump.
The timeline of the detention center’s closure was first reported on Tuesday by The New York Times, and then by CBS News.
Stephanie Hartman, spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, did not confirm or deny that the Everglades facility would close down this summer. She echoed comments by DeSantis from last week, saying “the South Florida detention facility was always intended to serve as a temporary facility to support ongoing illegal immigration enforcement and detention operations.”
“If federal operational needs evolve and the Department of Homeland Security implements alternative plans for the South Florida detention facility, the state will pivot accordingly,” Hartman said in a statement Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reiterated comments it made last week that it “continuously evaluates detention needs.”
The planned closure follows reports that Florida had been discussing the future of the detention center with the Trump administration amid mounting operational costs and political scrutiny. The New York Times first reported last week that state and federal officials were considering shutting the facility down.
The move comes after the state burned through $1 million dollars a day operating the facility for the last 10 months, with DeSantis continually promising a still unfulfilled federal reimbursement.
On Tuesday, DeSantis told reporters in Loxahatchee that he’s expecting the federal government to pay the state more than half a billion dollars — an amount the agency committed to last fall.
“They’ve approved $608 million for what we’ve said,” he said.
But in court filings, federal officials have raised doubts about paying that full amount — emphasizing the agency would only pay for per-detainee costs, not the pricey construction costs of the rapidly built, remote facility.
When asked Tuesday about whether Florida taxpayers would be on the hook for last summer’s construction costs, DeSantis said there’s still “negotiation” about it.
The state has not received any federal reimbursement to date.
The detention center, which was hastily constructed last July to bolster the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, became a flagship immigration enforcement project under DeSantis. The governor has defended the facility as a model for state-level immigration enforcement and beaten back reports of alleged mistreatment within the complex.
The center has drawn sharp criticism from immigration advocates, Democratic lawmakers and the families and attorneys of detainees, who have alleged inhumane living conditions including small portions of poor-quality food, late-night beatings, incidents of pepper spraying and limited access to phones. State officials have largely denied those reports.
Environmental groups suing the state and federal governments, arguing they failed to comply with federal environmental laws when building the tent facility, were delighted at the news.
Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, on Tuesday said the detention center was “a stain on our nation and a blight on the Everglades.”
“We’re not going to let Florida and the Trump administration off the hook for the irreparable harm they’ve done to Big Cypress and the critically endangered creatures who live there,” Bennett said in a statement. “Now it’s time to push for full restoration and protection of this site so a travesty like this never happens again.”