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Associated Press

Florida could be on the hook for US$218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention centre dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”.
The centre may soon be completely empty as a judge upheld her decision late Wednesday ordering operations to wind down indefinitely.
Shutting down the facility for the time being would cost the state US$15 million to US$20 million immediately, and it would cost another US$15 million to US$20 million to reinstall structures if Florida was allowed to reopen it, according to court filings by the state.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management would lose most of the value of the US$218 million it has invested in making the airport suitable for a detention centre, a state official said in court papers.

Florida signed at least US$405 million in vendor contracts, AP analysis shows
Built in just a few days, the facility consists of chain-link cages surrounding large white tents filled with rows of bunk beds.
An Associated Press analysis of publicly available state spending data showed that Florida has signed at least US$405 million in vendor contracts to build and operate the facility, which officials had initially estimated would cost US$450 million a year to run. A previous AP review found that as of late July, the state had already allocated at least US$245 million to run the site, which opened July 1.
US President Donald Trump toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.
The centre has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system.
It has also faced several legal challenges, including one that US District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled on late Wednesday. She denied requests to pause her order to wind down operations, after agreeing last week with environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe that the state and federal defendants did not follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention centre in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

The Miami judge said the number of detainees was already dwindling and that the federal government’s “immigration enforcement goals will not be thwarted by a pause in operations”. That was despite Department of Homeland Security lawyers saying the judge’s order would disrupt that enforcement.
When asked, the Department of Homeland Security would not say how many detainees remained and how many had been moved out since the judge’s temporary injunction last week.
“DHS is complying with this order and moving detainees to other facilities,” the department said Thursday in an emailed statement.
Environmental activist Jessica Namath, who has kept a nearly constant watch outside the facility’s gates, said on Thursday that fellow observers had seen metal framing for tents hauled out but no signs of the removal of FEMA trailers or portable bathrooms.
“It definitely seems like they have been winding down operations,” Namath said.
Based on publicly available contract data, Associated Press estimated the state allocated US$50 million for the bathrooms. Detainees and advocates have described toilets that do not flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, although officials dispute such descriptions.

The facility was already being emptied of detainees as of last week, according to an email exchange shared with Associated Press on Wednesday. The executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, said on August 22 “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days”, in a message to a rabbi about chaplaincy services.
Funding was central to the federal government’s arguments that Williams’ order should be overturned by an appellate court.
Homeland Security lawyers said in a court filing this week that federal environmental law does not apply to a state like Florida, and the federal government is not responsible for the detention centre since it has not spent a cent to build or operate the facility, even though Florida is seeking some federal grant money to fund a portion of the detention center.
“No final federal funding decisions have been made,” the lawyers said.
Almost two dozen Republican-led states also urged the appellate court to overturn the order. The 22 states argued in another court filing that the judge overstepped her authority and that the federal environmental laws only applied to the federal agencies, not the state of Florida.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration was preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison in north Florida.
Civil rights groups filed a second lawsuit last month against the state and federal governments over practices at the Everglades facility, claiming detainees were denied access to the legal system.
A third lawsuit by civil rights groups last Friday described “severe problems” at the facility which were “previously unheard-of in the immigration system”.


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United States

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ordered to close, potentially costing Florida US$218 million

Structures at the recently opened migrant detention centre, ‘Alligator Alcatraz’. File photo: AP

US President Donald Trump visiting ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in July. Photo: Reuters

Gigantic tents built at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’. Photo: TNS

US President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visiting ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in July. Photo: TNS

Women pose for a selfie in front of an ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ sign. Photo: AP

Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ likely to be empty within days, top Florida official says

Activist Joshua Rubin protests at the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz” on Friday. Photo: AFP

Structures, including gigantic tents, are seen from the air at the migrant detention centre in Ochopee, Florida, in July. Photo: Miami Herald via TNS

A member of “Leaders of Faith and Conscience” holds a placard during a weekly interfaith vigil outside “Alligator Alcatraz” on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ faces closure. What happens now?

US President Donald Trump visits a temporary migrant detention center informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz” on July 1. Photo: Reuters

An aerial view of structures at “Alligator Alcatraz” in Ochopee, Florida, on July 4. Photo: TNS

Detainees hold up their chained wrists as they ride in a bus leaving “Alligator Alcatraz” on Friday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

After ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, Florida to build ‘Deportation Depot’ to suit Trump’s plans

Protesters gather to demand the closure of the immigrant detention centre known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Ochopee, Florida, in July. Photo: AFP

Signage for the Baker Correctional Institution is seen west of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Photo: Florida Department of Corrections via AP

US President Donald Trump visits a temporary migrant detention centre informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Ochopee, Florida, in July. Photo: Reuters

Trump tours ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, wants such deportation facilities in ‘many’ US states

US President Donald Trump visiting ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in Ochopee, Florida. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump speaks during the opening of a temporary migrant detention center informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others tour ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ on Tuesday. Photo: AP

The facility sits some 60km from Miami in a vast subtropical wetland. Photo: Reuters

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ merchandise has been advertised by Republicans in Florida. Image: Republican Party of Florida via TNS

News

World

United States & Canada

The controversial detention facility is being emptied as a judge rules it violated environmental laws


The controversial detention facility is being emptied as a judge rules it violated environmental laws.
