Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention camp in Everglades may be emptied

By By Michael Smith

The detention camp in the Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz is being emptied, just two months after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build it to help President Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of migrants.

Videos posted on social media Wednesday showed buses leaving the camp under police escort headed east, toward Miami, and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it’s moving people to other facilities. US District Court Judge Kathleen Williams last week ordered the camp dismantled within 60 days, finding that it was built without a proper environmental review.

Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said in an Aug. 22 email that “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days” at the Everglades camp, according to a copy of the message seen by Bloomberg. Guthrie, who runs the camp, was responding to a request by Miami Beach Rabbi Mario Rojzman to allow area clergy to minister to detainees.

For weeks, attorneys and lawmakers have reported a drop in the number of migrants being held inside the sprawling collection of tents and trailers, which was built to hold about 3,000 people. Trump administration officials described the facility as a template for quickly expanding the capacity to lock up migrants nationwide. The camp gained national prominence the day it opened, on July 1, when Trump made a last-minute visit.

DeSantis has made the camp, built on a little-used airfield surrounded by wetlands teeming with alligators and mosquitoes, a showcase for his quest to play a high-profile role in Trump’s immigration crackdown.

That came at a high cost. DeSantis had the facility built in just eight days, using emergency powers and at least $330 million of no-bid contracts to build and operate it to firms that provide temporary housing and other services in the aftermath of hurricanes.

As of late August, the state had spent $218 million on the Everglades camp, a state emergency management official recently said in a court filing. Dismantling Alligator Alcatraz could cost tens of millions of dollars more.

The government has appealed Williams’ ruling. Williams on Wednesday denied a government request to lift her temporary order as the appeal is considered.

“Now the question is, ‘Was there really this need?’” said Tania Galloni, one of the lawyers who sued the government over the camp. “Just the concept of the $330 million they’ve spent to date. That’s mind-boggling.”

DeSantis, speaking to reporters on Wednesday in Orlando, said he’s going ahead with plans to build a second state-run detention camp in northern Florida and looking at other sites to help federal officials lock up migrants. “We’re here to be a force multiplier, and we will continue to do it,” he said.

DHS is moving detainees from the Everglades camp to other facilities to comply with the court’s order to wind down operations, a spokesperson said. The agency is focused on “the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” said the spokesperson.

The camp has became a magnet for national opposition to Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, drawing protesters who decried conditions inside like lack of access to lawyers for detainees, mosquitoes, searing heat and flooding.

Guthrie’s spokesperson, Stephanie Hartman, referred to DeSantis’ statements when asked for comment. Rojzman confirmed the content and authenticity of Guthrie’s email.