a report in The New York Times<\/a>, Florida officials and the Trump administration are discussing just that.<\/p>\nThe Times article says the talks are preliminary, but the Department of Homeland Security believes the facility is too expensive to keep operating.<\/p>\n
The DeSantis administration has been spending more than $1 million a day to operate the center, though officials have long said the federal government will reimburse much, if not all, of the costs. <\/p>\n
[WATCH: Lawmakers visit \u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 after being blocked]<\/p>\n
Gov. DeSantis reiterated that at a bill signing event in Lakeland Thursday afternoon, saying, \u201cAll the expenses are reimbursable by the federal government and that will happen. I know the media has made a big deal. It\u2019s FEMA, takes a while, we\u2019re getting it. And, you will see that very shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the talks themselves, DeSantis said it had been discussed, but federal officials \u201chaven\u2019t said they want to wind it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeSantis insisted the facility was never meant to be permanent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we shut the lights out on it tomorrow, we will be able to say it served its purpose because it was responsible for helping with almost 22,000 illegal aliens. And that ultimately is what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a statement to News 6, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called Florida a \u201cvaluable partner in advancing President Trump\u2019s immigration agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny reports that DHS is pressuring the state to cease operations at Alligator Alcatraz are false.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlorida continues to be a valuable partner in advancing President Trump\u2019s immigration agenda, and DHS appreciates their support. DHS continuously evaluates detention needs and requirements to ensure they meet the latest operational requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegarding reimbursement, DHS reviews reimbursement requests for grant funding to ensure costs are allowable and validated expenses that are eligible for reimbursement prior to releasing funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson<\/p>\n
Closure of the controversial facility, however, would also make immigration advocates and critics happy. <\/p>\n
Detainees, immigration attorneys, and politicians have reported unsanitary and bug-infested conditions at the facility. <\/p>\n
[WATCH: Alligator Alcatraz detainee unreachable, Orlando immigration attorney claims]<\/p>\n
In March, a federal judge ordered facility officials to provide access to timely, free, unmonitored and unrecorded outgoing legal calls. <\/p>\n
Last month, a lawyer reported to the federal courts<\/a> that guards beat up two of their clients when they complained about not having phone access.<\/p>\nBreaking News Alerts<\/p>\n
Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d the makeshift facility for ICE detainees in the Florida Everglades, soon be shut down? According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3120,28,30,29,1877,1841,99],"class_list":["post-262701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alligator-alcatraz","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}