{"id":170061,"date":"2026-02-26T13:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170061\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:32:08","slug":"trump-administration-wont-pay-for-alligator-alcatraz-construction-costs-tallahassee-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170061\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Won\u2019t Pay for \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 Construction Costs \u2013 Tallahassee Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Liv Caputo, The Florida Phoenix<\/p>\n

A $608 million federal reimbursement that Florida\u2019s been counting on to pay for the so-called \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d lockup won\u2019t cover construction costs \u2014 if the money comes through at all, Justice Department lawyers have declared.<\/p>\n

Instead, any potential dollars would only fund \u201coperational costs,\u201d not \u201cconstruction or facility modification,\u201d the DOJ said in a new federal court filing posted Tuesday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement may not even \u201cmaterialize\u201d at all, Attorney General James Uthmeier acknowledged in a\u00a0separate filing.<\/p>\n

This breaks from past assertions from both President Donald Trump and the DeSantis administration that the $608 million grant would\u00a0largely\u00a0foot the bill for Florida\u2019s state-run detention centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny potential future federal funding is reimbursement-based, calculated per detainee, and available only for operational costs \u2014 not construction or facility modification,\u201d Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it likely will be structured, there will be no potential federal funding of the facility\u2019s design, siting, maintenance, or construction, and no federal approval authority over whether the facility is built at all,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s filings were part of an ongoing legal battle brought by the Friends of the Everglades, the Miccosukee Tribe, and Earthjustice against the federal government in hopes of shuttering the Everglades detention facility. The government, represented by DOJ lawyers, is appealing a lower court\u2019s decision that sided with the activists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case centers on whether or not federal dollars going toward \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d would mean it\u00a0has to comply\u00a0with federal environmental laws.<\/p>\n

Florida has long waited for these federal dollars to come in. Although it was\u00a0initially reported\u00a0that DHS on Sep. 30 had awarded all $608 million to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, federal lawyers claimed Tuesday that the notice was simply a \u201cletter from FEMA approving FDEM\u2019s eligibility\u201d for the grant.<\/p>\n

FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie said earlier this month that FEMA told him the\u00a0DOJ\u00a0is holding up the reimbursement. This comes amid a massive restructuring within the DHS under Secretary Kristi Noem, who\u2019s overseen mass firings and drawn heat for imposing additional restrictions on FEMA spending. This includes requiring her personal sign-off on expenses of more than $100,000, which has greatly slowed disbursements.<\/p>\n

The Florida Division of Emergency Management has operated both the so-called \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d and Baker County\u2019s \u201cDeportation Depot\u201d migrant lockups over the past few months at the governor\u2019s direction. They\u2019ve pulled more than\u00a0$406 million\u00a0from the state\u2019s emergency response fund since August to cover anti-immigration costs, including payments for private jets, restaurant meals, and legal fees.<\/p>\n

That number represents 70% of the total spent on immigration in the past three years. Although it\u2019s unclear how much went toward modifying the detention facilities, more than $380 million was shelled out on contracts, including $92 million to a porta-potty company and $60 million on a disaster response business.<\/p>\n

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