Florida intends to shut down a high-profile immigration detention center that it opened last summer in the Everglades, according to a federal official and three people familiar with the facility\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
Officials at the center, known as Alligator Alcatraz, told vendors there on Tuesday afternoon that it was closing, the people familiar with the facility\u2019s operations said.<\/p>\n
Vendors were told that detainees would be moved from the facility by the start of June and that the center would be broken down over the following weeks, the three people said. The three people and the federal official all requested anonymity to discuss the closure, which has not yet been made public.<\/p>\n
It is unclear where the detainees would go; the federal government runs many other detention centers, including in Florida. The Everglades center, which is run by the state, held about 1,400 detainees as of last month, according to ICE data<\/a>.<\/p>\n The announcement came days after The New York Times reported<\/a> that Florida was in talks with the Trump administration to shut down the center, which has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to operate since it opened last July<\/a>. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, confirmed after the article\u2019s publication that federal and state officials had discussed closing the center.<\/p>\n The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which operates the center, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Neither did Mr. DeSantis\u2019s office. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agency \u201ccontinuously evaluates detention needs and requirements to ensure they meet the latest operational requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n Detainees and their relatives and lawyers, as well as immigration activists, have repeatedly denounced unsanitary and inhumane conditions<\/a> at the center. State officials have consistently dismissed such descriptions as false.<\/p>\n When asked about the center\u2019s future on Monday, Mr. DeSantis did not suggest that a decision was imminent. Speaking to reporters in Fort Myers, Fla., he said that federal officials had not told him they wanted it shut down. But he added that if the federal government stopped sending detainees to the center, the state would not keep it open.<\/p>\n