{"id":639735,"date":"2026-05-13T02:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/639735\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T02:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:31:10","slug":"vendors-at-alligator-alcatraz-told-the-immigration-detention-center-is-closing-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/639735\/","title":{"rendered":"Vendors at Alligator Alcatraz told the immigration detention center is closing: report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">OCHOPEE, Fla. \u2013 Florida\u2019s controversial immigration detention center, known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d is expected to close as early as June, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/12\/us\/florida-alligator-alcatraz-detention-closure.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/12\/us\/florida-alligator-alcatraz-detention-closure.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\">report from The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The facility, located in the Florida Everglades, opened last summer and has processed 22,000 detainees since then. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Vendors at the center were notified Tuesday that it would be closing and that detainees would be moved out by the start of June, The New York Times reported. It remains unclear where those detainees will be relocated after the center closes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Once the facility is emptied, it is expected to be dismantled over the following weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Florida has been spending over $1 million per day to operate the facility, and DeSantis has stated he anticipates reimbursement from the federal government. The state is still awaiting the $608 million it has requested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Florida has been spending over $1 million per day to operate the facility, and DeSantis has stated he anticipates reimbursement from the federal government. The state is still awaiting the $608 million it has requested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Speaking at a news conference in Lakeland, DeSantis said the detention center was never intended to be a permanent fixture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cAt some point, we will, of course, break it down. That was always the goal,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The governor did not provide additional details on a specific timeline or the fate of remaining detainees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">No federal or state officials have publicly announced a receiving location or a plan for managing the population after the move.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Detainees at the facility have also described poor physical conditions and <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/florida-alligator-alcatraz-lawyers-dd632803b17cbb76ab755654cfba27ef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">difficulty accessing lawyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCHOPEE, Fla. \u2013 Florida\u2019s controversial immigration detention center, known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz,\u201d is expected to close as early&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6366,4,450,2808,451,2483,790,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-639735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-alligator-alcatraz","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-florida","tag-headlines","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}