{"id":103848,"date":"2025-08-29T08:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103848\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T08:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:37:13","slug":"closing-alligator-alcatraz-may-cost-florida-over-200-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103848\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ may cost Florida over $200 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Florida could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades<\/a> into an immigration detention center dubbed \u201c Alligator Alcatraz<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center may soon be completely empty<\/a> as a judge upheld her decision late Wednesday ordering operations to wind down indefinitely.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A protester stands outside the migrant detention dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Alexandra Rodriguez, file)<\/p>\n

A protester stands outside the migrant detention dubbed \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, July 12, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo\/Alexandra Rodriguez, file)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Shutting down the facility for the time being would cost the state $15 million to $20 million immediately, and it would cost another $15 million to $20 million to reinstall structures if Florida is allowed to reopen it, according to court filings by the state.<\/p>\n

The Florida Division of Emergency Management will lose most of the value of the $218 million it has invested in making the airport suitable for a detention center, a state official said in court papers.<\/p>\n

Florida signed at least $405 million in vendor contracts, AP analysis shows <\/p>\n

Built in just a few days, the facility consists of chain-link cages surrounding large white tents filled with rows of bunk beds. <\/p>\n

An Associated Press analysis of publicly available state spending data showed that Florida has signed at least $405 million in vendor contracts to build and operate the facility, which officials had initially estimated would cost $450 million a year to run. A previous AP review found that as of late July, the state had already allocated at least $245 million<\/a> to run the site, which opened July 1.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure<\/a> needed to increase deportations.<\/p>\n

The center has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions<\/a> and detainees being cut off from the legal system. <\/p>\n

Center faces several legal challenges<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also facing several legal challenges, including one that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled on late Wednesday. She denied requests to pause her order<\/a> to wind down operations, after agreeing last week with environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe that the state and federal defendants didn\u2019t follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Miami judge said the number of detainees was already dwindling and that the federal government\u2019s \u201cimmigration enforcement goals will not be thwarted by a pause in operations.\u201d That\u2019s despite Department of Homeland Security lawyers saying the judge\u2019s order would disrupt that enforcement.<\/p>\n

When asked, the Department of Homeland Security wouldn\u2019t say how many detainees remained and how many had been moved out since the judge\u2019s temporary injunction last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cDHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities,\u201d the department said Thursday in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

Environmental activist Jessica Namath, who has kept a nearly constant watch outside the facility\u2019s gates, said Thursday that fellow observers had seen metal framing for tents hauled out but no signs of the removal of FEMA trailers or portable bathrooms. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely seems like they have been winding down operations,\u201d Namath said.<\/p>\n

Based on publicly available contract data, The Associated Press estimated the state allocated $50 million for the bathrooms. Detainees and advocates have described toilets that don\u2019t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, although officials dispute such descriptions.<\/p>\n

Facility already being emptied<\/p>\n

The facility was already being emptied of detainees as of last week, according to an email exchange<\/a> shared with The Associated Press on Wednesday. The executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie<\/a>, said on Aug. 22 \u201cwe are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,\u201d in a message to a rabbi about chaplaincy services.<\/p>\n

Funding is central to the federal government\u2019s arguments that Williams\u2019 order should be overturned by an appellate court. <\/p>\n

Homeland Security attorneys said in a court filing this week that federal environmental law doesn\u2019t apply to a state like Florida, and the federal government isn\u2019t responsible for the detention center since it hasn\u2019t spent a cent to build or operate the facility, even though Florida is seeking some federal grant money to fund a portion of the detention center.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo final federal funding decisions have been made,\u201d the attorneys said.<\/p>\n

Almost two dozen Republican-led states also urged the appellate court to overturn the order. The 22 states argued in another court filing that the judge overstepped her authority and that the federal environmental laws only applied to the federal agencies, not the state of Florida.<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> \u2019 administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed \u201cDeportation Depot\u201d at a state prison in north Florida.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This image from a video feed shows Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking about deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u2033 on July 25, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida. (Office Of Florida Governor Ron Desantis via AP, file)<\/p>\n

This image from a video feed shows Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking about deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u2033 on July 25, 2025 in Ochopee, Florida. (Office Of Florida Governor Ron Desantis via AP, file)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Civil rights groups filed a second lawsuit last month against the state and federal governments over practices at the Everglades facility, claiming detainees were denied access to the legal system.<\/p>\n

A third lawsuit by civil rights groups last Friday described \u201csevere problems\u201d at the facility which were \u201cpreviously unheard-of in the immigration system.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Florida could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,3979,64,63,43511,2973,74954,2490,8103,2755,482,12337,74956,9281,74957,74953,74958,6673,6670,74955,84,14832,74952,128,55404,488,338,1346],"class_list":["post-103848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-associated-press","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-civil-rights","tag-courts","tag-disaster-planning-and-response","tag-donald-trump","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-human-rights","tag-immigrant-detention","tag-immigration","tag-jessica-namath","tag-kathleen-williams","tag-kevin-guthrie","tag-lawsuits","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-mike-schneider","tag-politics","tag-prisons","tag-ron-desantis","tag-science","tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","tag-u-s-news","tag-wildlife","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}