Alcatraz

ORLANDO, Fla. — U.S. government lawyers say that detainees at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” probably include people who have never been in removal proceedings, which is a direct contradiction of what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened in July.

Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice made that admission Thursday in a court filing arguing that the detainees at the facility in the Everglades wilderness don’t have enough in common to be certified as a class in a lawsuit over whether they’re getting proper access to attorneys.

A removal proceeding is a legal process initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine if someone should be deported from the United States.

The Justice Department attorneys wrote that the detainees at the Everglades facility have too many immigration statuses to be considered a class.

“The proposed class includes all detainees at Alligator Alcatraz, a facility that houses detainees in all stages of immigration processing — presumably including those who have never been in removal proceedings, those who will be placed into removal proceedings, those who are already subject to final orders of removal, those subject to expedited removal, and those detained for the purpose of facilitation removal from the United States pursuant to a final order of removal,” they wrote.

Since the facility opened, DeSantis has been saying publicly that each detainee has gone through the process of determining that they can’t legally be in the United States.

During a July 25 news conference outside the detention center, DeSantis said, “Everybody here is already on a final removal order.”

“They have been ordered to be removed from the country,” he added.

At a July 29 speech before a conference of the Florida Sheriffs Assn., the Republican governor said, “The people that are going to the Alligator Alcatraz are illegally in the country. They’ve all already been given a final order of removal.”

He added, “So, if you have an order to be removed, what is the possible objection to the federal government enforcing that removal order?”

DeSantis’ press office didn’t respond Monday morning to an email seeking comment.

The court filing by the Justice Department attorneys was made in a lawsuit in which civil rights groups allege the facility’s detainees have been denied proper access to attorneys in violation of their constitutional rights. The civil rights groups on Thursday asked a federal judge in Fort Myers, Fla., for a preliminary injunction that would establish stronger protections for detainees to meet with attorneys privately and share documents confidentially.

The court case is one of three lawsuits filed by environmental and civil rights groups over the detention center, which was hastily built this summer by the state of Florida and operated by private contractors and state agencies.

A federal judge in Miami ordered in August that the facility must wind down operations within two months, agreeing with environmental groups that the remote airstrip site wasn’t given a proper environmental review before it was converted into an immigration detention center. But operations continued after the judge’s preliminary injunction was put on hold in early September by an appellate court panel. At one point, the facility held more than 900 detainees, but most of them were transferred after the initial injunction. It wasn’t clear on Monday how many detainees were at the center, which was built to hold 3,000 people.

President Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations. Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been approved for a $608-million reimbursement for the costs of building and running the immigration detention center.

Schneider writes for the Associated Press.

Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been reimbursed $608 million for the costs of building and running an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, exposing “Alligator Alcatraz” to the risk of being ordered to close for a second time.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an email that the state of Florida was awarded its full reimbursement request.

The reimbursement exposes the state of Florida to being forced to unwind operations at the remote facility for a second time because of a federal judge’s injunction in August. The Miami judge agreed with environmental groups who had sued that the site wasn’t given a proper environmental review before it was converted into an immigration detention center and gave Florida two months to wind down operations.

The judge’s injunction, however, was put on hold for the time being by an appellate court panel in Atlanta that said the state-run facility didn’t need to undergo a federally required environmental impact study because Florida had yet to receive federal money for the project.

“If the federal defendants ultimately decide to approve that request and reimburse Florida for its expenditures related to the facility, they may need to first conduct an EIS (environmental impact statement),” the three-judge appellate court panel wrote last month.

The appellate panel decision allowed the detention center to stay open and put a stop to wind-down efforts.

President Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.

Environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments said the confirmation of the reimbursement showed that the Florida-built facility was a federal project “from the jump.”

“This is a federal project being built with federal funds that’s required by federal law to go through a complete environmental review,” Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “We’ll do everything we can to stop this lawless, destructive and wasteful debacle.”

Schneider writes for the Associated Press.

Sept. 8 (UPI) — State officials in Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska are taking cues from Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” to expand detention space for immigrants.

More than 61,000 immigrants are in detention in the United States as of the latest update on Aug. 24 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University. About 70% of detainees have no criminal convictions.

President Donald Trump has claimed through his campaign and into his current term in the White House that his immigration policy will focus on detaining and deporting criminals he deems “the worst of the worst.” According to TRAC Reports, only 1.55% of new deportation orders in fiscal year 2025 were based on alleged criminal activity.

After Florida’s pop-up detention facility in the Everglades, “Alligator Alcatraz,” garnered the attention and support of federal officials, including the president, officials in other states have proposed their own plans to detain immigrants.

ICE’s plan to expand detention

At stake for those states is a share of the $45 billion infusion of federal funds into detention and deportation efforts approved by Congress in its budget reconciliation package.

The funding aims to expand detention space for immigrants, adding 80,000 new beds.

“Maintaining current bedspace is critical for enforcing immigration law and removing illegal aliens form the United States,” a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told UPI. “As ICE arrests and removes criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., the agency has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding.”

Being in the United States without authorization is a civil offense, not a crime.

The ICE spokesperson said ICE has the funding to bring more than 60 new detention facilities online for immigrant detention. It has already made arrangements for 18,000 additional detention beds, some of which are active and others are pending.

Names like “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska, or Indiana’s proposed “Speedway Slammer” downplay the conditions that detainees are dealing with, who largely have not committed a crime or who have already served their punishment for past crimes, critics say.

“We see this in other countries who have experienced mass atrocities,” Haddy Gassama, senior policy counsel in the ACLU’s National Policy Advocacy Department, told UPI. “It’s dehumanizing, making light of or sanitizing something so horrific. It is also worrisome in the sense that some of these states are seeing this as an opportunity to either attempt to get some federal revenue into their states at the risk of a whole bunch of other issues, or to be in this administration’s good graces.”

The Department of Homeland Security is embracing the idea of more new detention space. Last month it announced new partnerships with the states of Nebraska, Indiana and Louisiana. In its press releases announcing these partnerships, DHS credits “Alligator Alcatraz” as the inspiration for new detention spaces.

Unlike “Alligator Alcatraz,” these states are looking to existing facilities for expand detention space.

“Louisiana Lockup”

The Louisiana State Penitentiary is making 416 beds available for ICE detention. The prison, also known as Angola Prison, is the largest maximum security prison system in the United States.

The U.S. State Department’s 2023 report on the prison noted “significant human rights issues” that included arbitrary and unlawful killings, cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners and life-threatening prison conditions.

“Angola has a long and storied history,” Silky Shah, executive director of the Detention Watch Network, told UPI. “As somebody who started doing this work many years ago and growing up in Texas, the story of Angola and the people who had been put in solitary confinement for decades and the ‘Angola Three’ was such a central story to learning about this prison system and the harms of the prison system.”

Three Black men — Robert Hilary King, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace — became known as the Angola Three after spending more than 40 years in solitary confinement at Angola Prison. Woodfox was the last to be released from prison in 2016.

“Federal intervention has happened around Angola. Really one of the worst facilities in the world,” Shah said.

More than 4,000 inmates are detained at the Angola Prison. The average daily population between 2022 and 2023 was 4,716, according to a report by a Prison Rape Elimination Act auditor.

The “Louisiana Lockup” detentions will take place in Camp J, a four-building section of the penitentiary that has been closed for several years. When it was in operation, it was referred to as the “Dungeon” due to much of its space being dedicated to solitary confinement.

“The question is are they going to put in the investment to bring it up to constitutional standards before they start putting people in there?” Joseph Margulies, professor of practice in the Department of Government at Cornell University. “In their zeal to be cruel to people, are they going to cut these corners around conditions?”

As an attorney, Margulies represented prisoners who were held at Guantanamo Bay after Sept. 11 in the first case brought against the administration of President George W. Bush regarding post-Sept. 11 detainments.

Eight Black inmates sued the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the Louisiana State Penitentiary and the state’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections for alleged racist mistreatment while performing forced labor at the prison. They are suing on behalf of others who are similarly situated, according to court filings.

The men work on Farm Line 24/25, a work assignment that places inmates in the prison’s agriculture fields picking crops. The men allege they have been subject to racist epithets from guards, told to defecate out in the open fields and threatened to be hanged.

The lawsuit alleges that working on the Farm Line is an Eighth Amendment violation because it subjects inmates to cruel and unusual punishment, due to working in dangerous heat and overall poor conditions.

They also alleged it was a Thirteenth Amendment violation because it subjected them to involuntary servitude as punishment. A judge dismissed this claim.

Nebraska’s “Cornhusker Clink”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement on Aug. 19, announcing that the McCook Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Neb., will be converted into an immigrant detention facility. The camp is located on the outskirts of the community in rural Southern Nebraska.

McCook has a population of about 7,400 according to the 2020 census.

“I am pleased that our facility and team in McCook can be tasked with helping our federal partners protect our homeland by housing criminal illegal aliens roaming our country’s communities today,” Pillen said. “I am also proud that the Nebraska State Patrol and National Guard will be assisting ICE enforcement efforts, as well.”

A Nebraska legislative report on the McCook Work Ethic Camp, published in November, said it was once referred to as an incarceration work camp. It is meant to reduce prison overcrowding so there is space for violent offenders.

The facility began accepting probation offenders in 2001. It used to house male and female detainees but since 2013 it has only accepted males.

The McCook Work Ethic Camp has 200 beds. At the time of the November report, 197 people were housed there.

The press release from the Department of Homeland Security says it will expand to 280 beds for immigrant detainees.

Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer”

Indiana is adding 1,000 beds for immigrant detention at the Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, Ind. The facility is located about 3 miles southwest of the small, rural town.

Bunker Hill had a population of 888 people during the 2020 census.

Annie Goeller, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Correction, told UPI there is not yet a timeline for beginning to detain immigrants at the facility.

“We do not have a timeline yet and are determining details, including funding,” she said.

The facility is designed to hold 3,188 detainees at full capacity. According to a 2024 report by a Prison Rape Elimination Act auditor there was an average daily population of 1,424 for the 12 months ending in September 2024.

There were 10 allegations of staff-on-inmate sexual abuse that resulted in criminal investigations at the facility. One was referred for prosecution and three more were ongoing at the time of the report.

The facility was determined to be compliant with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal zero-tolerance standard for sexual abuse and harassment in U.S. prisons. The auditor confirmed that inmates have multiple ways of reporting abuse, also meeting minimum standards.

The auditor noted that in at least one instance it was unclear if a victim was provided the opportunity to connect with a victim advocate. The victim was airlifted to a local hospital with serious injuries including likely head trauma. As corrective action, the facility’s staff must document whether or not an advocate is offered to victims of violence and sexual abuse.

The prison was also deemed to have met standards for access to emergency medical and mental health services and for accommodating detainees with disabilities and detainees who have limited English proficiency.

Sept. 4 (UPI) — A federal appeals court Thursday overturned a judge’s order to shut down Florida’s immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Department of Homeland Security officials.

The opinion issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to wind down operations at the South Florida Detention Facility at Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee.

Environmental groups led by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe sued over the construction of the facility in May, saying the government didn’t perform a required environmental review first. They cited a federal law called the National Environmental Policy Act, which says the government must conduct such reviews before construction.

In a 2-1 opinion, the Atlanta-based appellate court said the construction of the facility can’t be challenged under NEPA because the state of Florida runs the prison, not the federal government.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appealed the lower court’s August order based on these grounds. He praised the decision in a post on X accusing Williams of being a “leftist judge.”

“The mission continues at Alligator Alcatraz,” he wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security called it a “huge victory.”

“Today’s order is a win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense,” the department posted on X.

Friends of the Everglades issued a statement on Facebook saying environmental groups intend to continue “fighting” the case.

“While disappointing, we never expected ultimate success to be easy,” said Eve Samples, executive director of the group. “We’re hopeful the preliminary injunction will be affirmed when it’s reviewed on its merits during the appeal.”

The South Florida Detention Facility was the first of multiple prisons opened by the Trump administration in recent months as part of the president’s pledge to mass deport immigrants. Since “Alligator Alcatraz’s” opening in July, the DHS has opened or announced a number of other facilities with alliterative nicknames, including the “Speedway Slammer” at the Miami Correctional Center in Indiana; the “Cornhusker Clink” at the Work Ethic Camp in McCook, Neb.;, the “Deportation Depot” at the Baker Correctional Institution in north Florida; and the “Louisiana Lockup” at Angola Prison.

Immigrants’ rights groups have taken issue with the federal-state partnerships to open large-scale detention facilities and the “political spectacle” associated with the nicknames.

“The new agreements mark a new chapter in the level and scale of cooperation” between federal and state governments on immigration enforcement, the Marshall Project said in a statement in August.

The organization accused the DHS of preventing detainees from meeting confidentially with lawyers at the South Florida Detention Facility. The Marshall Project also alleged the conditions were filthy at the facility and detainees were treated inhumanely, both of which the Trump administration denied.

The DHS said Thursday that the legal challenge to the construction of the facility was about immigration policy, not the environment.

“This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility. It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz.”

The facility may soon be 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 $15 million to $20 million immediately, and it would cost another $15 million to $20 million to reinstall structures if Florida is allowed to reopen it, according to court filings by the state.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management will lose most of the value of the $218 million it has invested in making the airport suitable for a detention center, a state official said in court papers.

Built in just a few days, the facility consists of chain-link cages surrounding large white tents filled with rows of bunk beds. As of late July, state officials had already signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.

President 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 center has been plagued by reports of unsanitary conditions and detainees being cut off from the legal system.

It’s also facing several legal challenges, including one that U.S. 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 didn’t follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

The Miami judge said the number of detainees was already dwindling, and the federal government’s “immigration enforcement goals will not be thwarted by a pause in operations.” That’s despite Department of Homeland Security lawyers saying the judge’s order would disrupt that enforcement.

When asked, the Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t 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 Thursday that fellow observers had seen white tents hauled out but no signs of the removal of Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers or portable bathrooms.

“It definitely seems like they have been winding down operations,” Namath said.

Based on publicly available contract data, the Associated Press estimated the state allocated $50 million for the bathrooms. Detainees and advocates have described toilets that don’t 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 the AP on Wednesday. The executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, said on Aug. 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 is central to the federal government’s arguments that Williams’ order should be overturned by an appellate court.

Homeland Security attorneys said in a court filing this week that federal environmental law doesn’t apply to a state like Florida, and the federal government isn’t responsible for the detention center since it hasn’t 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 attorneys 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 applied only to the federal agencies, not the state of Florida.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ administration is 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 on Aug. 22 described “severe problems” at the facility that were “previously unheard-of in the immigration system.”

Schneider and Payne write for the Associated Press.

Aug. 28 (UPI) — The Trump administration is winding down operations at its Florida Everglades detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” per a court order, with all detainees to be removed within days, according to reports.

Florida Division of Emergency Management head Kevin Guthrie wrote in a Friday email obtained by both The New York Times and ABC News, but reported on Wednesday, that the South Florida Detention Facility in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee will probably “be down to 0 individuals within a few days.”

The news organizations reported that the email was sent in response to interfaith leaders who had asked to minister to the facility’s detainees.

It’s unclear exactly how many detainees are held — and were held — at the detention facility rapidly constructed at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport compound.

President Donald Trump has been channeling funds to expanded immigration detention capabilities nationwide as part of his pledge to mass deport immigrants, with several Republican-led states entering partnerships with the federal government to construct them.

Alligator Alcatraz opened July 1 and was met with Democratic opposition and lawsuits.

On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration and the state of Florida to essentially wind down operations at the facility within 60 days. No new detainees were allowed to be transferred to the site and much of it was ordered to be dismantled.

In her ruling, Judge Kathleen Williams sided with environmental groups who accused the state and federal governments of violating environmental protection laws, as no environmental review was performed before they started erecting the facility.

“There weren’t ‘deficiencies’ in the agency’s process. There was no process. The defendants consulted no stakeholders or experts and did no evaluation of the environmental risks and alternatives from which the court may glean the likelihood that the agency would choose the same course if it had done a NEPA-compliant evaluation,” she wrote in her order, referring to the National Environmental Policy Act.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has appealed the ruling.

Earlier this month, DeSantis, a Republican and a Trump ally, announced plans to open another detention facility, this one called “Deportation Depot.” It is to be housed in a shuttered state prison in North Florida.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and the federal government fight a judge’s order to shutter the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by late October. That’s according to an email exchange shared with the Associated Press.

In a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on Aug. 22 related to providing chaplaincy services at the facility, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said “we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.” Rojzman, and the executive assistant who sent the original email to Guthrie, both confirmed the veracity of the messages to the AP.

A spokesperson for Guthrie, whose agency has overseen the construction and operation of the site, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

News that the last detainee at “Alligator Alcatraz” could leave the facility within days comes less than a week after a federal judge in Miami ordered the detention center to wind down operations, with the last detainee needing to be out within 60 days. The state of Florida appealed the decision, and the federal government asked U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to put her order on hold pending the appeal, saying that the Everglades facility’s thousands of beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded.

The environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit led to the judge’s ruling, opposed the request. They disputed that the Everglades facility was needed, especially as Florida plans to open a second immigration detention facility in north Florida that DeSantis has dubbed “Deportation Depot.” During a tour of the South Florida facility last week, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said he was told that only a fraction of the detention center’s capacity was in use, between 300 and 350 detainees.

Williams had not ruled on the stay request as of Wednesday.

The judge said in her order that she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days by transferring detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can’t bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property.

Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued in their lawsuit that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claimed the facility threatened environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars spent over decades on environmental restoration.

The detention center was built rapidly two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the rugged and remote Everglades. State officials have signed more than $245 million in contracts for building and operating the facility, which officially opened July 1.

Payne and Schneider write for the Associated Press. Schneider reported from Orlando, Fla.

MIAMI — A federal judge has put a stop to further expansion of the immigration detention center built in the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz, ordering that its operations wind down within two months.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami wrote in her 82-page order late Thursday that Florida officials never sufficiently explained why an immigration detention center needed to be located in the middle of sensitive wetlands cherished by environmentalists and outdoors people.

She also said that state and federal authorities never undertook an environmental review as required by federal law before Florida officials hastily built the detention camp that they championed as a model for President Trump’s immigration policies. That failure adversely affected the “recreational, conservational, and aesthetic interests” of the environmental groups and Miccosukee Tribe, which brought the lawsuit, she said.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday reacted to the ruling, saying he would not be deterred by “an activist judge.”

“We knew this would be something that would likely happen,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City. “We will respond accordingly. You either have a country or you don’t.”

Here’s what to know about the situation and what might come next:

What did the judge say?

Williams said she expected the population at the facility to drop within 60 days by transferring detainees to other facilities. Once that happens, fencing, lighting, gas, waste, generators and other equipment should be removed from the site. No additional detainees can be sent to the facility, and noadditional lighting, fencing, paving, buildings or tents can be added to the camp. The only repairs that can be made to the existing facility are for safety purposes. However, the judge allowed for the existing dormitories and housing to stay in place as long as they are maintained to prevent deterioration or damage.

Here’s where detainees might end up

During court hearings, lawyers said at one point there were fewer than 1,000 detainees at the facility, which state officials had planned to hold up to 3,000 people. Although the detainees could be sent to other facilities out of state, Florida has other immigration detention centers including the Krome North Processing Center in Miami, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and the Baker County Detention Center managed by the local sheriff’s office. Earlier this month, DeSantis announced plans for a second state-initiated immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. State officials say it is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000 beds.

How does this decision impact the other “Alligator Alcatraz” lawsuit?

Civil rights lawyers had filed a second lawsuit over practices at “Alligator Alcatraz,” claiming that detainees weren’t able to meet with their attorneys privately and were denied access to immigration courts. Another federal judge in Miami dismissed part of the lawsuit earlier this week after the Trump administration designated the Krome North Processing Center as the court for their cases to be heard. The judge moved the remaining counts of the case from Florida’s southern district to the middle district. Eunice Cho, the lead attorney for the detainees, said Friday that the decision in the environmental lawsuit won’t have an impact on the civil rights case since there could be detainees at the facility for the next two months.

“Our case addresses the lack of access to counsel for people detained at Alligator Alcatraz, and there are still people detained there,” Cho said.

Status of the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts

No one has said publicly what will happen to the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts involved in the facility. DeSantis’ administration in July signed contracts with private vendors to pay at least $245 million to set up and run the center, according to a public database. That amount — to be fronted by Florida taxpayers — was in line with the $450 million a year officials have estimated the facility was going to cost. The governor’s office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management on Friday didn’t respond to questions about whether Florida taxpayers would still be on the hook for the contracts if the facility is shuttered.

Is this a final decision?

No. This case will continue to be litigated. The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued. As its name suggests, a preliminary injunction is only an initial action taken by a judge to prevent harm while a lawsuit makes its way through the court process and when it appears that one side has a good chance of succeeding based on the merits of the case.

Schneider and Anderson write for the Associated Press.

MIAMI — A federal judge in Miami dismissed part of a lawsuit that claimed detainees were denied access to the legal system at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” and moved the remaining counts of the case to another court.

Claims that the detainees were denied hearings in immigration court were rendered moot when the Trump administration last weekend designated the Krome North Processing Center near Miami as a site for their cases to be heard, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz said in a 47-page ruling Monday night dismissing a 5th Amendment count.

The judge granted the state defendants a change of venue motion to the Middle District of Florida, where the remaining claims of 1st Amendment violations will be addressed. Those include allegations of delays in scheduling meetings between detainees and their attorneys and an inability for the detainees to talk privately with their attorneys by phone or videoconference at the facility whose official name is the South Detention Facility.

ACLU lawyer Eunice Cho, the lead attorney for the detainees, said the federal government reversed course only last weekend and allowed the detainees to petition an immigration court because of the lawsuit.

“It should not take a lawsuit to force the government to abide by the law and the Constitution,” Cho said. “We look forward to continuing the fight.”

The judge heard arguments from both sides in a hearing earlier Monday in Miami. Civil rights attorneys were seeking a preliminary injunction to ensure detainees at the facility had access to their lawyers and could get a hearing.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build the facility on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland two months ago in order to aid President Trump’s efforts to deport people who are in the U.S. illegally. The governor has said the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent against escape, much like the island prison in California that Republicans named it after. The detention center has an estimated annual cost of $450 million.

The state and federal government had argued that even though the isolated airstrip where the facility is located is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s Southern District was the wrong venue since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s Middle District.

Judge Ruiz had hinted during a hearing last week that he had some concerns over which jurisdiction was appropriate. Attorneys for the detainees had argued that Ruiz’s court was appropriate since the detainees were under the oversight of federal officials in the Miami regional office. Any transfer to another venue would cause a delay in a court decision.

Ruiz noted the facts in the case changed Saturday when the Trump administration designated the Krome facility as the immigration court with jurisdiction over all detainees at the detention center.

The judge wrote that the case has “a tortured procedural history” since it was filed July 16, weeks after the first group of detainees arrived at the facility.

“Nearly every aspect of the Plaintiffs’ civil action — their causes of action, their facts in support, their theories of venue, their arguments on the merits and their requests for relief — have changed with each filing,” the judge wrote.

The state and federal government defendants made an identical argument last week about jurisdiction for a second lawsuit in which environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe sued to stop further construction and operations at the Everglades detention center until it’s in compliance with federal environmental laws.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Aug. 7 ordered a 14-day halt to additional construction at the site while witnesses testified at a hearing that wrapped up last week. She has said she plans to issue a ruling before the order expires later this week. She had yet to rule on the venue question.

Detainees at the facility have said worms turn up in the food, toilets don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.

Civil rights attorneys also said officers were going cell to cell to pressure detainees into signing voluntary removal orders before they’re allowed to consult their attorneys, and some detainees had been deported even though they didn’t have final removal orders. Along with the spread of a respiratory infection and rainwater flooding in tents, the circumstances had fueled a feeling of desperation among detainees, the attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Fischer, Schneider and Frisaro write for the Associated Press. Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Schneider reported from Orlando, Fla.

MIAMI — A federal judge on Monday considered whether detainees at a temporary immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades have been denied their legal rights.

In the second of two lawsuits challenging practices at the facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” civil rights attorneys sought a preliminary injunction to ensure that detainees at the site have confidential access to their lawyers, which they say hasn’t happened. Florida officials dispute that claim.

The civil rights attorneys also wanted U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detention center so that petitions can be filed for the detainees’ bond or release. The attorneys say that hearings for their cases have been routinely canceled in federal Florida immigration courts by judges who say they don’t have jurisdiction over the detainees in the Everglades.

At the start of Monday’s hearing, government attorneys said they would designate the immigration court at the Krome North Service Processing Center in the Miami area as having jurisdiction over the detention center in the Everglades in an effort to address some of the civil rights attorneys’ constitutional concerns. The judge told the government attorneys that he didn’t expect them to change that designation without good reason.

But before delving into the core issues of the detainees’ rights, Ruiz wanted to hear about whether the lawsuit was filed in the proper jurisdiction in Miami. The state and federal government defendants have argued that even though the isolated airstrip where the facility was built is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s Southern District is the wrong venue since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s Middle District.

The hearing ended without the judge making an immediate ruling. Ruiz suggested that the case against the federal defendants might be appropriate for the Southern District, but the case against the state defendants might be better in the Middle District.

Court for the Southern District is held in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Key West, and West Palm Beach, while Middle District courthouses are located in Tampa, Fernandina, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Live Oak, Ocala, Orlando and St. Petersburg.

All parties have agreed that if the complaints against the state are moved to another venue, then the complaints against the federal government should be moved as well. It wasn’t immediately clear how Ruiz, a Trump appointee, handing the case off to another judge would affect the ultimate outcome of the case.

The hearing over legal access comes as another federal judge in Miami considers whether construction and operations at the facility should be halted indefinitely because federal environmental rules weren’t followed. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Aug. 7 ordered a 14-day halt to additional construction at the site while witnesses testified at a hearing that wrapped up last week. She has said she plans to issue a ruling before the order expires later this week.

Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that his administration was preparing to open a second immigration detention facility dubbed “Deportation Depot” at a state prison in north Florida. DeSantis justified building the second detention center by saying President Trump’s administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants.

The state of Florida has disputed claims that “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees have been unable to meet with their attorneys. The state’s lawyers said that since July 15, when videoconferencing started at the facility, the state has granted every request for a detainee to meet with an attorney, and in-person meetings started July 28. The first detainees arrived at the beginning of July.

But the civil rights attorneys said that even if lawyers have been scheduled to meet with their clients at the detention center, it hasn’t been in private or confidential, and it is more restrictive than at other immigration detention facilities. They said scheduling delays and an unreasonable advance-notice requirement have hindered their ability to meet with the detainees, thereby violating their constitutional rights.

Civil rights attorneys said officers are going cell to cell to pressure detainees into signing voluntary removal orders before they’re allowed to consult their attorneys, and some detainees have been deported even though they didn’t have final removal orders. Along with the spread of a respiratory infection and rainwater flooding their tents, the circumstances have fueled a feeling of desperation among detainees, the attorneys wrote in a court filing.

The judge promised a quick decision.

Fischer and Schneider write for the Associated Press.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked further construction on an immigrant detention complex in Florida that has been referred to as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Mary Williams issued a temporary restraining order after hearing two days of testimony about the potential environmental impacts of the center.

The state of Florida and the Trump administration are permitted to continue housing detainees, but further construction is on hold for 14 days.

Environmental advocates and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the state contend the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility could harm the Everglades ecosystem. The groups contend that construction of the center began without the necessary environmental impact statements.

Multiple species reside in the area’s habitat, including the Florida Panther, and it is considered spiritually sacred to the Miccosukee Tribe.

“We welcome the court’s decision to pause construction on this deeply concerning project,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress said in a statement. “The detention facility threatens land that is not only environmentally sensitive but sacred to our people. While this order is temporary, it is an important step in asserting our rights and protecting our homeland. The Miccosukee Tribe will continue to stand for our culture, our sovereignty, and the Everglades.”

Williams’ temporary restraining order prevents filling, paving, lighting and installing additional infrastructure.

The detention center opened in July and is able to house thousand of inmates. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said “Alligator Alcatraz” could serve as a template for state-run immigration-detention facilities in the United States.

President Donald Trump announced in May that the United States would reopen the original Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, but there have been no independent cost analyses of what that would cost or when, or if, it would happen.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday heard arguments from two groups seeking an injunction to halt the operation and further construction of an immigration detention center in the Everglades called “Alligator Alcrataz.”

District Judge Kathleen Williams conducted a hearing in Miami on a lawsuit by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, claiming the state and federal government bypassed mandatory ecological reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act during construction.

They also said the detention facility, which now houses 1,000 detainees with plans for up to 5,000, was built in less than two weeks without public notice or comment, and didn’t comply with other statutes, including the Endangered Species Act.

The detention center, which is about 75 miles west of Miami and 44 miles southwest of Naple, is amid swampland that includes alligators, pythons, snakes and other predators.

Randy Kautz, an expert in Florida wildlife, said 120 to 230 endangered panthers are in the “core area” and increased human activity will harm reproduction.

“There has been a stable reproducing population of panthers in this area in this range at least over the last 30 years,” he said in court. “Panthers have succeeded and resided here.”

Panthers were tracked in the 1,000 acres near the detention facility, which was built on a rarely used airstrip off U.S. 41 in Ochopee in Miami-Dade County near Collier County. The so-called Alligator Alley, which is part of Interstate 75, runs 80 miles across the state through the Everglades.

Attorneys say the work is exempt from the National Environmental Policy Act because it was initially funded, constructed and managed by the state. But Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani testified the Department of Homeland Security wants the facility.

More than 40,000 people opposed the detention center in a petition on the website of the Friends of the Everglades, a nonprofit, which is one of the parties in the lawsuit.

“We are very concerned about potential impacts of runoff” and “large, new industrial-style lights that are visible from 15 miles away, even though having a dark sky designation,” Eve Samples, the executive director of the group, told the court.

“Driving out there myself many times, the increased traffic is visible. I saw two dead gators last time I visited, so definitely a difference in the area.”

The detention facility neighbors land leased to the Miccosukee Indian Tribe with villages, a school, hunting areas and sacred sites.

Civil rights groups filed a second lawsuit alleging that detainees’ constitutional rights are being violated. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 18.

WTVJ-TV reported limited access to showers, spoiled food, extreme heat and mosquitoes. They also allege they are being barred from meeting lawyers with some held without any charges.

President Donald Trump toured the facility on July 1 with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretry Kristi Noem before the opening two days later.

The first deportation flights departed from the airstrip on July 25.

Legislators in Congress and the state, who initially were denied access, were allowed to visit on July 12 but couldn’t speak to the detainees and access to the property was limited.

“Rural immigrant detention camps — 750 people in cages like animals — is un-American, and it should be shut down,” state Sen. Carlo Guillermo Smith said.

State and federal officials defend the conditions.

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News last month. “Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority.”

DeSantis has said the airport site, called the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Facility, won’t have any effect on the surrounding environment.

DeSantis and Noem have touted the location because it is in a relatively remote area and surrounded by swampland.

DeSantis utilized an emergency order in 2023 in response to Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving in the Florida Keys by boat, with the state offering to pay $20 million for the land.

Florida will seek reimbursement from the federal government for the $450 million yearly cost of running the facility, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told the Miami Herald.

County officials approve the use of the airstrip for immigrants.

The airstrip was envisioned to become an airport with construction to begin in 1968. Work was halted in 1970 because of environmental concerns, but not before one runway was finished. The runway was used for training flights.

The land later became Big Cyprus National Preserve, which encompasses 1,139 square miles. The preserve is north of Everglades National Park, which covers 2,356 square miles.

Lawyers seeking a temporary restraining order against an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades say that “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees have been barred from meeting attorneys, are being held without any charges and that a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings.

A virtual hearing in federal court in Miami was being held Monday on a lawsuit that was filed July 16. A new motion on the case was filed Friday.

Lawyers who have shown up for bond hearings for “Alligator Alcatraz” detainees have been told that the immigration court doesn’t have jurisdiction over their clients, the attorneys wrote in court papers. The immigration attorneys demanded that federal and state officials identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detainees and start accepting petitions for bond, claiming the detainees constitutional rights to due process are being violated.

“This is an unprecedented situation where hundreds of detainees are held incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts, under legal authority that has never been explained and may not exist,” the immigration attorneys wrote. “This is an unprecedented and disturbing situation.”

The lawsuit is the second one challenging “Alligator Alcatraz.” Environmental groups last month sued federal and state officials asking that the project built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades be halted because the process didn’t follow state and federal environmental laws.

Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican state officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity.

Schneider writes for the Associated Press.

OCHOPEE, Fla. — Deportation flights from the remote Everglades immigration lockup known as ”Alligator Alcatraz″ have begun and are expected to increase soon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.

The first flights operated by the Department of Homeland Security have transferred about 100 detainees from the immigration detention center to other countries, DeSantis said during a news conference near the facility.

“You’re going to see the numbers go up dramatically,” he said.

Two or three flights have already departed, but officials didn’t say where those flights headed.

Critics have condemned the South Florida facility as cruel and inhumane. DeSantis and other Republican officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Building the facility in the Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents, DeSantis and other officials have said.

The White House has delighted in the area’s remoteness — about 50 miles west of Miami — and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators. It hopes to send a message that repercussions will be severe if U.S. immigration laws are broken.

Trump has suggested that his administration could reopen Alcatraz, the notorious island prison in San Francisco Bay. The White House also has sent some immigrants awaiting deportation to a detention lockup in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and others to a megaprison in El Salvador.

The Everglades facility was built in a matter of days over 10 square miles. It features more than 200 security cameras and more than 5 miles of barbed wire. An adjacent runway makes it more convenient for homeland security officials to move detainees in and out of the site.

It currently holds about 2,000 people, with the potential to double the capacity, Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday.

DeSantis wants the U.S. Justice Department to allow an immigration judge on site to speed up the deportation process.

“This was never intended to be something where people are just held,” he said. “The whole purpose is to be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations.”

Critics have challenged federal and state officials’ contention that the detention center is just run by the state of Florida. Environmental groups suing to stop further construction and expansion demanded Thursday to see agreements or communications between state and federal officials and to visit the site.

Seewer writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mike Schneider contributed to this report.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has revealed that deportation flights have begun to depart from a remote detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, as the Republican leader seeks to put his state at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Speaking from the south Florida site on Friday, DeSantis framed his efforts as a model for other states seeking to partner with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“I’m pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun,” DeSantis told reporters.

“ The reality is this provides an ability to enhance the mission, to increase the number and frequency of deportations. And so what’s been done here has really been remarkable.”

A representative for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Garrett Ripa, also confirmed that “two or three removal flights” had already been conducted from the Alligator Alcatraz facility and that more were planned.

He indicated that those flights contained “ up to a hundred individuals who were illegally present in the state of Florida”.

Delegating resources

President Trump campaigned for re-election last November on the promise that he would undertake the “largest deportation operation in American history”.

But with more than 11 million undocumented people believed to be living in the United States, critics have pointed out that his ambitions may outstrip the amount of detention space and resources the government has available.

That has led the Trump administration to seek additional resources from state and local authorities, as well as assistance from foreign governments.

He has also deployed the military to assist in immigration enforcement operations, a task traditionally outside its scope.

Part of Trump’s toolkit has been deputising state and local leaders through Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

While the federal government is solely responsible for immigration enforcement, Section 287(g) creates a loophole that allows ICE to enter into written agreements with state and local authorities to perform specific immigration-related functions.

Speaking alongside DeSantis on Friday, Larry Keefe, the head of Florida’s newly established State Board of Immigration Enforcement, said his team has already taken advantage of such arrangements.

“Just within the last couple of days, the federal government has issued credentials to over 1,200 Florida sheriff’s deputies and over 650 FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] agents and other state and local law enforcement agencies,” Keefe said.

“We have more than doubled our capability and capacity to effect arrests.”

Florida at the forefront

Florida, however, has been testing the limits of what it is able to do independently in terms of cracking down on undocumented immigration within its state lines.

Earlier this year, for instance, the Florida’s Republican-led government passed a law, known as SB 4-C (PDF), that imposes stiff criminal penalties on adult undocumented immigrants who knowingly enter the state.

But federal courts placed an injunction to prevent the law from taking effect, on the basis that it preempts the federal government’s authority over all things immigration.

Still, President Trump has hailed the aggressive immigration efforts in Florida, his adopted home state, where he maintains a residence, Mar-a-Lago, as well as golf courses.

Earlier this month, he visited Alligator Alcatraz, applauding its fast-paced construction. “This is what you need,” Trump said at the time. “A lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators.”

Critics have denounced the facility as an exercise in cruelty, with reports emerging of poor conditions inside Alligator Alcatraz. Some immigrants have said they faced floodwater, poor sanitation, clogged toilets and clouds of mosquitoes as they stayed in fenced-in units where the lights were never dimmed.

Environmental groups and Indigenous members of the local Seminole and Miccosukee tribes have also criticised the facility for its location in the middle of the Everglades wetlands, a sensitive ecosystem prone to seasonal flooding.

Utilising an old airfield

Built across eight days in June, Alligator Alcatraz sits atop the site of the former Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida.

That set-up has been a benefit for plans to also use the facility for deportation flights, DeSantis said on Friday. He described transferring immigrants from their detention cells to planes with relative ease.

“One of the reasons why this was a sensible spot is because you have this runway that’s right here,” DeSantis explained.

“You don’t have to drive them an hour to an airport. You go a couple thousand feet, and they can be on a plane and out of here.”

He added that the site already has runway lighting and 18,927 litres — or 5,000 gallons — of jet fuel on site. That, he hopes, will help pave the way for the number of deportation flights to increase in the coming weeks.

“ The cadence is increasing,” DeSantis said. “We’ve already had a number of flights in the last few days.”

Alligator Alcatraz — named for a forbidding island prison in the San Francisco Bay that closed in the 1960s — has the capacity to hold up to 3,000 people, according to Florida officials.

DeSantis has long positioned Florida as the “blueprint” for what Republican leadership in the US could look like, and in 2023, he launched a short-lived presidential campaign to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Increasing the pace

In his remarks on Friday, DeSantis briefly acknowledged the shortcomings in Trump’s mass-deportation plans, playing up the efficiency of the Alligator Alcatraz system.

“ICE has been understaffed — you know, is not scratching the surface of what would need to be done to get to where you have the largest mass deportation in history,” he said.

“So you’ve got to increase that tempo. You have a limited amount of time to do it. I think we’ve got to assume we’ve got these four years under the Trump administration to really get the job done.”

DeSantis also brushed aside concerns that the isolated facility cuts immigrants off from their legal representation and their right to be heard before a court.

He pointed out that he plans to have immigration judges on site. But he also questioned whether undocumented people should be allowed the same due process rights as US citizens and immigrants with legal status.

“To me, it’s like, if you are subjected to a traditional criminal process, there’s a whole a bunch of due process that goes into that,” DeSantis said.

By contrast, DeSantis argued that the immigration process “should be a pretty simple process. You either have a right to be here or you don’t.”

Florida’s top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.

Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.

“And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,” Guthrie said.

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida’s southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn’t follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit.

Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of the state’s aggressive push to support President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity.

Schneider writes for the Associated Press.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration left many local officials in the dark about the immigration detention center that rose from an isolated airstrip in the Everglades, emails obtained by the Associated Press show, while relying on an executive order to seize the land, hire contractors and bypass laws and regulations.

The emails show that local officials in southwest Florida were still trying to chase down a “rumor” about the sprawling “Alligator Alcatraz” facility planned for their county while state officials were already on the ground and sending vendors through the gates to coordinate construction of the detention center, which was designed to house thousands of migrants and went up in a matter of days.

“Not cool!” one local official told the state agency director spearheading the construction.

The 100-plus emails dated June 21 to July 1, obtained through a public records request, underscore the breakneck speed at which the the governor’s team built the facility and the extent to which local officials were blindsided by the plans for the compound of makeshift tents and trailers in Collier County, a wealthy, majority-Republican corner of the state that’s home to white-sand beaches and the western stretch of the Everglades.

The executive order, originally signed by the Republican governor in 2023 and extended since then, accelerated the project, allowing the state to seize county-owned land and evade rules in what critics have called an abuse of power. The order granted the state sweeping authority to suspend “any statute, rule or order” seen as slowing the response to the immigration “emergency.”

A representative for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Known as the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, the airstrip is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of downtown Miami. It is located within Collier County but is owned and managed by neighboring Miami-Dade County. The AP asked for similar records from Miami-Dade County, which is still processing the request.

To DeSantis and other state officials, building the facility in the remote Everglades and naming it after a notorious federal prison were meant as deterrents. It’s another sign of how President Donald Trump’s administration and his allies are relying on scare tactics to pressure people who are in the country illegally to leave.

Detention center in the Everglades? ‘Never heard of that’

Collier County Commissioner Rick LoCastro apparently first heard about the proposal after a concerned resident in another county sent him an email on June 21.

“A citizen is asking about a proposed ‘detention center’ in the Everglades?” LoCastro wrote to County Manager Amy Patterson and other staff. “Never heard of that … Am I missing something?”

“I am unaware of any land use petitions that are proposing a detention center in the Everglades. I’ll check with my intake team, but I don’t believe any such proposal has been received by Zoning,” replied the county’s planning and zoning director, Michael Bosi.

Environmental groups have since filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the state illegally bypassed federal and state laws in building the facility.

In fact, LoCastro was included on a June 21 email from state officials announcing their intention to buy the airfield. LoCastro sits on the county’s governing board but does not lead it, and his district does not include the airstrip. He forwarded the message to the county attorney, saying, “Not sure why they would send this to me?”

In the email, Kevin Guthrie, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the detention center, said the state intended to “work collaboratively” with the counties. The message referenced the executive order on illegal immigration, but it did not specify how the state wanted to use the site, other than for “future emergency response, aviation logistics, and staging operations.”

The next day, Collier County’s emergency management director, Dan Summers, wrote up a briefing for the county manager and other local officials, including some notes about the “rumor” he had heard about plans for an immigration detention facility at the airfield.

Summers knew the place well, he said, after doing a detailed site survey a few years ago.

“The infrastructure is — well, nothing much but a few equipment barns and a mobile home office … (wet and mosquito-infested),” Summers wrote.

FDEM told Summers that while the agency had surveyed the airstrip, “NO mobilization or action plans are being executed at this time” and all activity was “investigatory,” Summers wrote.

Emergency director said lack of information was ‘not cool’

By June 23, Summers was racing to prepare a presentation for a meeting of the board of county commissioners the next day. He shot off an email to FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie seeking confirmation of basic facts about the airfield and the plans for the detention facility, which Summers understood to be “conceptual” and in “discussion or investigatory stages only.”

“Is it in the plans or is there an actual operation set to open?” Summers asked. “Rumor is operational today… ???”

In fact, the agency was already “on site with our vendors,” coordinating construction of the site, FDEM bureau chief Ian Guidicelli responded.

“Not cool! That’s not what was relayed to me last week or over the weekend,” Summers responded, adding that he would have “egg on my face” with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and Board of County Commissioners. “It’s a Collier County site. I am on your team, how about the courtesy of some coordination?”

On the evening of June 23, FDEM officially notified Miami-Dade County it was seizing the county-owned land to build the detention center, under emergency powers granted by the executive order.

Plans for the facility sparked concerns among first responders in Collier County, who questioned which agency would be responsible if an emergency should strike the site.

Discussions on the issue grew tense at times. Local Fire Chief Chris Wolfe wrote to the county’s chief of emergency medical services and other officials on June 25: “I am not attempting to argue with you, more simply seeking how we are going to prepare for this that is clearly within the jurisdiction of Collier County.”

‘Not our circus, not our monkeys’

Summers, the emergency management director, repeatedly reached out to FDEM for guidance, trying to “eliminate some of the confusion” around the site.

As he and other county officials waited for details from Tallahassee, they turned to local news outlets for information, sharing links to stories among themselves.

“Keep them coming,” Summers wrote to county Communications Director John Mullins in response to one news article, “since [it’s] crickets from Tally at this point.”

Hoping to manage any blowback to the county’s tourism industry, local officials kept close tabs on media coverage of the facility, watching as the news spread rapidly from local newspapers in southwest Florida to national outlets such as the Washington Post and the New York Times and international news sites as far away as the U.K., Germany and Switzerland.

As questions from reporters and complaints from concerned residents streamed in, local officials lined up legal documentation to show the airfield was not their responsibility.

In an email chain labeled, “Not our circus, not our monkeys…,” County Attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow wrote to the county manager, “My view is we have no interest in this airport parcel, which was acquired by eminent domain by Dade County in 1968.”

Meanwhile, construction at the site plowed ahead, with trucks arriving around the clock carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials. Among the companies that snagged multimillion-dollar contracts for the work were those whose owners donated generously to DeSantis and other Republicans.

On July 1, just 10 days after Collier County first got wind of the plans, the state officially opened the facility, welcoming DeSantis, Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other state and national officials for a tour.

A county emergency management staffer fired off an email to Summers, asking to be included on any site visit to the facility.

“Absolutely,” Summers replied. “After the President’s visit and some of the chaos on-site settles-in, we will get you all down there…”

Payne writes for the Associated Press.

The first detainees have started arriving at Alligator Alcatraz, Florida’s immigrant detention center in the Everglades. The facility went up on a former airstrip in eight days and will have an initial capacity of 3,000 detainees. Florida’s Republican state Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier, the driving force behind the project, posted on X recently that the center “will be checking in hundreds of criminal illegal aliens tonight. Next stop: back to where they came from.”

Alligator Alcatraz — the camp’s official name — raises logistical, legal and humanitarian concerns. It appears intentionally designed to inflict suffering on detainees, and to allow Florida politicians to exploit migrant pain for political gain. Some of the first people held there have already reported inhumane conditions.

“Alligator Alcatraz” is a misnomer. Alcatraz was home to dangerous criminals, including Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. These were violent offenders who had been tried and convicted and sent to the forbidding island fortress.

In contrast, we don’t know whether detainees sent to Alligator Alcatraz will have had their day in court. We don’t know whether they will receive due process in immigration courts or be charged with a crime. We do know that the majority of people whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting have no criminal records. Remember, simply being in the U.S. without authorization is not a crime — it is a civil infraction. And the ranks of the undocumented include many people who once had lawful status, such as people who overstayed their visas and people with temporary protected status and other forms of humanitarian relief that the current administration has rescinded. Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research center, reports that 71% of immigrant detainees have no criminal record.

In Florida, ICE has arrested an evangelical pastor, a mother of a newborn and a U.S. citizen. These are the kinds of people who might end up spending time in Alligator Alcatraz. In fact, Florida state documents show that detainees there could include women, children and the elderly.

Alligator Alcatraz will place detainees in life-threatening conditions. The site consists of heavy-duty tents and mobile units, in a location known for intense humidity and sweltering heat. Tropical storms, hurricanes and floods pass through the area regularly. On a day when the president visited, there was light rain and parts of the facility flooded. This is not a safe place for the support staff who will be working there, nor is it for detainees.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has praised the “natural” security at Alligator Alcatraz as “amazing.” When asked if the idea was for detainees to get eaten by alligators if they try to escape, President Trump replied, “I guess that’s the concept.” However, escapes from immigration detention are rare. The June escape by four men from a New Jersey detention center made headlines, in part because it was such an unusual occurrence (three of the escaped detainees are back in custody). So the construction of a detention center with a “moat” of forbidding wildlife is just performative cruelty.

Consider the gleeful ways that Florida Republicans have promoted Alligator Alcatraz. The state GOP is selling branded merchandise online, such as hats and T-shirts. On his website, the attorney general is hawking his own products, including Alligator Alcatraz buttons and bumper stickers. But immigration detention is a serious matter. It should not be treated like a cheap spectacle, with souvenirs available for purchase.

Immigrant advocacy groups are rightfully alarmed by Alligator Alcatraz. They’re not the only ones: Environmental groups have protested its impact on the surrounding ecosystem, while Indigenous tribes are angry because the camp sits near lands that are sacred to them. The author of a global history of concentration camps has concluded that Alligator Alcatraz meets the criterion for such a label.

The most troubling aspect of Alligator Alcatraz is that it may be a harbinger of things to come. The budget legislation that the president signed into law on July 4 allocates $45 billion for immigration detention over the next four years. Other states may follow Florida’s example and set up detention centers in punishing locales. This will likely happen with little oversight, as the administration has closed the offices that monitored abuse and neglect in detention facilities.

Yes, Homeland Security and ICE are mandated by law to arrest people who are in the country without authorization and to detain them pending removal. That is true no matter who is president. Yet Alligator Alcatraz is a state project, outside the normal scope of federal government accountability. On Thursday, state lawmakers who sought to inspect the facility were denied entry.

In embracing Alligator Alcatraz, the administration is testing the limits of public support for the president’s immigration agenda. According to a June Quinnipiac survey, 57% of voters disapprove of the president’s handling of immigration. A more recent YouGov poll found that Alligator Alcatraz is likewise unpopular with a plurality of Americans.

Alligator Alcatraz is not a joke. It is a dehumanizing political stunt that puts immigrant detainees at genuine risk of harm or death.

Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. @RaulAReyes; @raulareyes1

MIAMI — Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved ones.

Only days after President Trump toured a new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” these are some of the conditions described by people held inside.

Attorneys, advocates, detainees and families are speaking out about the makeshift migrant detention center that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. The center began accepting detainees on July 2.

“These are human beings who have inherent rights, and they have a right to dignity,” said immigration attorney Josephine Arroyo. “And they’re violating a lot of their rights by putting them there.”

Government officials have adamantly disputed the conditions described by detainees, their attorneys and family members, but have provided few details, and have denied access to the media. A televised tour for Trump and DeSantis showed rows of chain-link cages, each containing dozens of bunk beds, under large white tents.

“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the center.

A group of Democratic lawmakers sued the DeSantis administration for access. The administration is allowing a site visit by state legislators and members of Congress on Saturday.

Descriptions from attorneys and families differ from the government’s ‘model’

Families and attorneys who spoke with the Associated Press relayed detainees’ accounts of a place they say is unsanitary and lacks adequate medical care, pushing some into a state of extreme distress.

Such conditions make other immigration detention centers where advocates and staff have warned of unsanitary confinements, medical neglect and a lack of food and water seem “advanced,” said immigration attorney Atara Eig.

Trump and his allies have praised this detention center’s harshness and remoteness as befitting the “worst of the worst” and as a national model for the deterrence needed to persuade immigrants to “self-deport” from the United States.

But among those locked inside the chain-link enclosures are people with no criminal records, and at least one teenage boy, attorneys told the AP.

Concerns about medical care, lack of medicines

Immigration attorney Katie Blankenship described a concerning lack of medical care at the facility, relaying an account from a 35-year-old Cuban client who told his wife that detainees go days without a shower. The toilets are in the same space as the bunk beds and can’t handle their needs, she said.

The wife, a 28-year-old green card holder and the mother of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, relayed his complaints to the AP. Fearing government retaliation against her and her detained husband, she asked not to be identified.

“They have no way to bathe, no way to wash their mouths, the toilet overflows and the floor is flooded with pee and poop,” the woman told the AP. “They eat once a day and have two minutes to eat. The meals have worms,” she added.

The woman said the detainees “all went on a hunger strike” on Thursday night to protest the conditions.

“There are days when I don’t know anything about him until the evening,” she said, describing waiting for his calls, interrupted every three minutes by an announcement that the conversation is being recorded.

No meetings with attorneys

The detainees’ attorneys say their due process rights are among numerous constitutional protections being denied.

Blankenship is among the lawyers who have been refused access. After traveling to the remote facility and waiting for hours to speak with her clients, including a 15-year-old Mexican boy with no criminal charges, she was turned away by a security guard who told her to wait for a phone call in 48 hours that would notify her when she could return.

“I said, well, what’s the phone number that I can follow up with that? There is none,” Blankenship recalled. “You have due process obligations, and this is a violation of it.”

Arroyo’s client, a 36-year-old Mexican man who came to the U.S. as a child, has been detained at the center since Saturday after being picked up for driving with a suspended license in Florida’s Orange County. He’s a beneficiary of the DACA program, created to protect young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and to provide them with work authorization.

Blankenship’s Cuban client paid a bond and was told he’d be freed on a criminal charge in Miami, only to be detained and transferred to the Everglades.

Eig has been seeking the release of a client in his 50s with no criminal record and a stay of removal, meaning the government can’t legally deport him while he appeals. But she hasn’t been able to get a bond hearing. She’s heard that an immigration court inside the Krome Detention Center in Miami “may be hearing cases” from the Everglades facility, but as of Friday, they were still waiting.

“Jurisdiction remains an issue,” Eig said, adding “the issue of who’s in charge over there is very concerning.”

Salomon and Payne write for the Associated Press. Payne reported from Tallahassee, Fla.