Florida's state-owned immigration detention center in the Everglades "Alligator Alcatraz", is on the verge of closing its gates. Based on emails obtained by the Associated Press, the facility can be entirely evacuated in a matter of days, despite an appeal filed by Governor Ron DeSantis' administration and federal officials against a judge's directive to close it by late October.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie penned a letter to Rabbi Mario Rojzman on August 22 stating "we are likely to be down to 0 individuals in a few days." The letter, affirmed by Rojzman and the staffer who sent it, indicates the state is relocating detainees more quickly than anticipated.
The center, built in two months, was intended to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants under the initiative of then-President Donald Trump to impose stricter deportation policies. It had as many as almost 1,000 inmates at one point, but Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost recently discovered on a tour that only 300-350 were left.
The center has been party to at least three lawsuits disputing its operations. Detainees were claimed to be held for weeks without being charged, unreported in ICE's detainee locator system, and denied bond or custody hearings by civil rights attorneys. Testimonies reported unsanitary conditions worms in food, toilets not flushing, sewage flooding, and mosquito infestation.
Environmental organizations and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians also sued, contending the facility posed a risk to delicate Everglades wetlands inhabited by protected wildlife and undercut decades of expensive restoration efforts. The lawsuits led US District Judge Kathleen Williams to instruct the site to close down, with detainees shipped elsewhere within 60 days.
State officials nevertheless appealed the ruling, and the federal government has requested that Williams hold off on enforcement, claiming the beds are necessary because other facilities are overcrowded. But environmental attorneys respond that the state's rapid depopulation of the location demonstrates the government's claims of hardship are overstated.
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The Everglades facility opened July 1 on a secluded training airstrip, as Florida has committed over $245 million in contracts for construction and operations already. Detractors say this investment risks derailing long-term ecosystem restoration, as state officials continue to pursue another detention center in North Florida-labelled the "Deportation Depot."
For now, “Alligator Alcatraz” appears to be emptying faster than anyone anticipated, raising questions about why it was built so quickly, and whether its short-lived existence will leave behind only legal scars and environmental damage.
