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.

No. 1-ranked Mater Dei opened its high school football season on Saturday in Florida looking every bit as good as last season when the Monarchs went unbeaten despite lots of mistakes in the second half.

New quarterback Ryan Hopkins threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter en route to a 26-23 victory over Ft. Lauderdale Aquinas, which has won six straight Florida state titles. Chris Henry Jr. caught two of them, covering 22 and 82 yards. Gavin Honore had a 62-yard touchdown reception.

Mater Dei scored 26 consecutive points after falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter. They led 26-3 at halftime. But the Monarchs went scoreless in the second half.

The Monarchs were hardly perfect, leaving coach Raul Lara plenty to work on. They had two interceptions in the first half that ended with turnovers on fumbles during the returns. Twice the Monarchs botched point-after attempts. There were numerous 15-yard personal foul penalties for taunting, late hits, grabbing the face mask and a horse collar. They had 13 penalties for 140 yards through three quarters.

The defense did what it has been doing well for years — stopping the run. USC commit Tomuhini Topui had a sack and Shaun Scott, another USC commit, was adding pressure at the linebacker position. Danny Lang led the secondary with two pass breakups.

Aquinas had fourth and goal from the one-yard line to start the fourth quarter and failed on a fumble trying to run up the middle to cut a 26-10 deficit. But Hopkins was soon intercepted. Aquinas scored on a quarterback option play by Mason Mallory to close to within 26-16 with 9:44 left. Then it was 26-23 on a touchdown pass with 1:36 left until Mater Dei ran out the clock.

Hopkins finished with 272 yards passing. Henry had four catches for 134 yards.

The Monarchs next make their home debut on Friday in a game that will likely result in a running clock. They face Bishop Montgomery, which lost five transfers to ineligibility.

Mater Dei was one of three Trinity League teams opening in Florida. St. John Bosco won 31-0 on Friday night in a game halted at halftime because of lightning. There was also lightning for Mater Dei’s game that delayed the start by one hour. Orange Lutheran was playing Saturday night against Miami Northwestern.

Three other Trinity League teams — Santa Margarita, JSerra and Servite — all lost nonleague openers on Friday.

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.

JAVIER MASCHERANO reverted to managing Inter Miami from his PHONE in the stands after being sent off against Tigres.

The former Liverpool midfielder was incensed after stoppage time in the first half of the Leagues Cup quarter-finals went over five minutes long.

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Anfield great Luis Suarez had opened the scoring in Fort Lauderdale from the penalty spot after 23 minutes but only after a lengthy VAR check.

Referee Mario Escobar added the time on before the break – leaving Miami boss Mascherano fuming.

As a result, he was given his marching orders and forced to watch the second half from the stands.

But cameras revealed the ex-Barcelona man talking tactics to his assistant Lucas Rodriguez Pagano on his mobile phone.

The 41-year-old – who retired in 2020 before moving into management with Argentina’s youth sides two years later – also barked orders from his seat.

Mascherano was breaking the rules by doing so – with his ejection meant to prohibit any contact with his team.

Angel Correa levelled the scoring in the cup on the 67th minute.

But once again Suarez – who joined former Barca team-mates Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba to Miami last year – came to the rescue.

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The Uruguayan forward – who spent three seasons at Liverpool before joining Barca in 2014 – converted from the spot again.

Messi – out of the cup tie due to injury – celebrated from his pitchside box with his son and Suarez’s boy Benjamin.

Miami progress to the last four of the tournament and sit fifth in the Eastern Conference of the MLS.

Mascherano’s other assistant Javier Morales – holding the post-match press conference – was probed on the red card.

Morales said: “The referee added four minutes and we ended up playing six minutes. So we argued about the time.

“We’re human, we start to talk and the referee said Javier got a red card and that’s it. We didn’t have much information.

“We complained about the time, he said four minutes and next they’re playing six.”

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A former Miami Heat security officer has pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge in connection to stealing team memorabilia worth millions of dollars and selling the items to online brokers.

Retired Miami police officer Marcos Tomas Perez appeared Tuesday at U.S. Superior Court for the Southern District of Florida and issued a guilty plea to transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce, after pleading not guilty to the felony count at an initial hearing earlier this month.

Perez’s attorney, Robert Buschel, told NBC6 in Florida after Tuesday’s hearing that Perez is “depressed, naturally, but he accepts responsibility for his behavior and we’re gonna work through this issue in his life.”

Perez, 62, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 31.

“I hope that the judge will consider all factors in his life and his history as a good person,” Buschel said. “He was an exemplary police officer in the city of Miami, he’s been retired for close to 10 years. This was an unfortunate set of decisions that he made and he’s going to accept responsibility for that.”

Buschel declined to comment any further when reached by The Times via email Wednesday.

According to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez has admitted to stealing hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars belonging to the Heat and selling them to online brokers.

One such item was a jersey that LeBron James wore in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, during which James and the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second consecutive championship. After Perez allegedly sold the jersey for around $100,000, it was sold in an online auction for $3.7 million in 2023.

According to court documents, other stolen items included jerseys signed by former Heat stars Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Chris Bosh, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as team jackets, game-worn sneakers and more.

JEFF Bezos is mourning the loss of his mother, Jacklyn “Jackie” Bezos, who has died at the age of 78.

The Bezos Family Foundation announced the news, revealing she passed away peacefully at her Miami home today.

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While no cause of death was given, the Foundation said she was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia in 2020.

In an emotional post, Jeff reflected on how his mom’s life as an adult began early, becoming a mother at just 17.

He said she “pounced on the job of loving me with ferocity,” later bringing his stepfather Mike into the family and expanding her love to his siblings Christina and Mark.

Bezos said her “list of people to love never stopped growing” and that she “always gave so much more than she ever asked for.”

He shared that after a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia, Jackie died surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and Mike.

“I know she felt our love in those final moments. We were all so lucky to be in her life,” he wrote, adding: “I hold her safe in my heart forever… I love you, mom.”

In a heartfelt tribute, the Foundation described Jackie as “the true meaning of grit and determination, kindness and service to others” — values she passed on to her children and grandchildren.

It praised her husband, Mike Bezos, for staying by her side “at every step” of her illness and thanked the healthcare team who cared for her.

Born December 29, 1946, in Washington, D.C., Jackie had Jeff at 17 with her first husband, Ted Jorgensen, before the couple split when Jeff was a toddler.

She later married Cuban immigrant Miguel “Mike” Bezos in 1968 — a lifelong partnership that lasted nearly six decades.

In 1995, the couple famously invested just under $250,000 into Jeff’s then-new venture, Amazon.

A devoted mother to Jeff, Christina, and Mark, Jackie juggled work, night school, and family life — making countless trips to Radio Shack for Jeff, supervising cheerleading practice for Christina, and hauling drums in the family station wagon for Mark.

She later earned her psychology degree at 45, proving, as the Foundation put it, “it’s never too late to follow your dreams.”

In 2000, she and Mike founded the Bezos Family Foundation, spearheading initiatives such as Vroom, which supports early childhood development, and the Bezos Scholars Program for students in the US and Africa.

She also played a major role in funding groundbreaking cancer research at Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

Her greatest joy, however, was family — particularly her 11 grandchildren, for whom she created “Camp Marmie,” a summer tradition of adventures, problem-solving, and laughter.

Jeff’s wife, Lauren Sánchez, re-shared the tribute on Instagram Stories with a broken heart emoji.

Jackie is survived by Mike, her children Jeff, Christina, and Mark, 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

The family is asking people to honor her memory by supporting a meaningful nonprofit or performing a simple act of kindness.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state’s holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles west of Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

After opening the Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified opening the second detention center, dubbed “Deportation Depot” by the state, by saying President Trump’s administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants.

“There is a demand for this,” DeSantis said. “I’m confident it will be filled.”

Payne writes for the Associated Press.

Walt Disney World Resort, Florida is a family favourite, but social influencer Alex Dobson has dropped a video expressing his thoughts on the park – and it’s gone viral in just a day

With the summer holidays in full swing, many families will be embarking on vacations, whether that’s abroad or as part of a staycation. Some of those seasonal revellers will be lucky enough to be visiting ‘Mickey’s House’, AKA, Walt Disney World Resort, Florida.

It’s estimated that just under 1 million UK visitors travel to Orlando annually, with 80% of those visiting ‘the most magical place of earth’. However, while Disney World and Disney Land are widely loved by children and held with a fierce nostalgia by many parents (and non-parents), the reality can sometimes prove to be less than dreamy.

What’s more, one viral video recently popped the Mickey-ears shaped bubble with one deft swipe. Alex Dodman is a social influencer with roughly 450,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram.

The father-of-three is famous for his ‘real reviews’ of family days out, attractions and holidays, as well as viral trends and cultural events – and now his spotlight is firmly on the Disney resort.

Opening the review with a wry, “It’s almost like we’ve been programmed to think that this is the most magical place on earth”, while filming a motorway gantry leading into the theme park that proclaims the very same, Alex boldly claims that “it’s probably the most overpriced tourist p**stakes in history”.

As many a parent who’s been through the Disney World machine will attest to, the resort is not cheap. A Disney World holiday for a family of four from the UK, including flights, can range from around £6,500 to £15,000 or more, depending on the various packages.

And the repeated financial roundhouse kicks are not entirely conducive to a happy holiday between married people, either, with Alex saying it’s likely they’re going to “pretend they’re having a good time posting about it online, when in reality they’ve probably argued about 1,000 times, been on the brink of divorce, and each child has had an overstimulated meltdown every half an hour”.

According to the influencer: “A ticket to get in here for the day for two adults, two kids and a baby was $709 and because I actually wanted the kids to go on a ride this time, I got some lightning Lane tickets for three rides for an extra $136… How is this even allowed?”

‘Main Street’, the thoroughfare with full view of the Disney Castle, is one to swerve, says Alex.

Not impressed with people that “pretended to cry when they first saw the castle”, he cracked on to the rides – saying that “having some lightning Lane tickets did work well”.

He was less than impressed with the rides themselves, saying the ‘Barnstormer’ “lasted for 25 seconds”, ‘Peter Pan’s Flight’ was “basically pitch black” and ‘It’s a Small World’ was “everyone’s favourite nightmare”.

Conceding that he did understand why “this place is some people’s happy place”, Alex reflected that the ‘trap’ may lie in the fact that Brits have travelled all the way to Orlando.

For that reason, it’s tempting to give in to the cost to embrace a “once in a lifetime” trip. However, he went on to say that: “There’s no way you can enjoy this without having in the back of the mind how utterly screwed you’re being done by Disney”.

Summing up, Alex considered the pay off of such a pricey trip, saying: “Did the kids enjoy it? Yeah. But we also went to Clearwater Beach for the weekend, and they said they had a better time jumping in the sea there, which was free”.

He added: “However you chop it up, it’s way too expensive.”

Comments to the video were mixed, with some wholeheartedly agreeing and others fiercely defending the place that they deeply love.

Many pointed out that Alex’s big mistake was not booking park hopper tickets that make the experience a whole lot more affordable. Doing more research could have helped him to avoid the busiest queues, too.

One follower helpfully supplied: “Yeah, feels like you need so much insider knowledge to not be stung so much with Disney. Park hopper tickets are a better and cheaper option. Staying at Disney property helps for costs with parking for free and dining plans.”

Another person was keen to help too, saying: “Disney World takes a lot of research to do it well and paying for lightning lanes on these type of rides shows you didn’t complete basic training in Disney world trip planning. I think it’s to do with having really little kids too it’s so much fun in the bigger better rides with older kids”.

One poster was relived that they weren’t missing out, saying: “Thank you for blessing us poor who can’t get there that we aren’t depriving our kids and ourselves of the most magical experience on earth”.

And one full-blown fan was clear where her loyalty lay, expressing: “I’m in the Disney cult. Please don’t save me if I blink. They can take my hard earned cash from me so I can walk down that busy street, get tears in my eyes and reminisce of days gone by. “

Ever since federal immigration raids ramped up across California, triggering fierce protests that prompted President Trump to deploy troops to Los Angeles, the state has emerged as the symbolic battleground of the administration’s deportation campaign.

But even as arrests soared, California was not the epicenter of Trump’s anti-immigrant project.

In the first five months of Trump’s second term, California lagged behind the staunchly red states of Texas and Florida in the total arrests. According to a Los Angeles Times analysis of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement data from the Deportation Data Project, Texas reported 26,341 arrests — nearly a quarter of all ICE arrests nationally — followed by 12,982 in Florida and 8,460 in California.

Even in June, when masked federal immigration agents swept through L.A., jumping out of vehicles to snatch people from bus stops, car washes and parking lots, California saw 3,391 undocumented immigrants arrested — more than Florida, but still only about half as many as Texas.

When factoring in population, California drops to 27th in the nation, with 217 arrests per million residents — about a quarter of Texas’ 864 arrests per million and less than half of a whole slew of states including Florida, Arkansas, Utah, Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Nevada.

The data, released after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the government, excludes arrests made after June 26 and lacks identifying state details in 5% of cases. Nevertheless, it provides the most detailed look yet of national ICE operations.

Immigration experts say it is not surprising that California — home to the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the nation and the birthplace of the Chicano movement — lags behind Republican states in the total number of arrests or arrests as a percentage of the population.

“The numbers are secondary to the performative politics of the moment,” said Austin Kocher, a geographer and research assistant professor at Syracuse University who specializes in immigration enforcement.

Part of the reason Republican-dominated states have higher arrest numbers — particularly when measured against population — is they have a longer history of working directly with ICE, and a stronger interest in collaboration. In red states from Texas to Mississippi, local law enforcement officers routinely cooperate with federal agents, either by taking on ICE duties through so-called 287(g) agreements or by identifying undocumented immigrants who are incarcerated and letting ICE into their jails and prisons.

Indeed, data show that just 7% of ICE arrests made this year in California were made through the Criminal Alien Program, an initiative that requests that local law enforcement identify undocumented immigrants in federal, state and local prisons and jails.

That’s significantly lower than the 55% of arrests in Texas and 46% in Florida made through prisons or jails. And other conservative states with smaller populations relied on the program even more heavily: 75% of ICE arrests in Alabama and 71% in Indiana took place via prisons and jails.

“State cooperation has been an important buffer in ICE arrests and ICE operations in general for years,” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a Sacramento-based senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “We’ve seen that states are not only willing to cooperate with ICE, but are proactively now establishing 287(g) agreements with their local law enforcement, are naturally going to cast a wider net of enforcement in the boundaries of that state.”

While California considers only some criminal offenses, such as serious felonies, significant enough to share information with ICE; Texas and Florida are more likely to report offenses that may not be as severe, such as minor traffic infractions.

Still, even if fewer people were arrested in California than other states, it also witnessed one of the most dramatic increases in arrests in the country.

California ranked 30th in ICE arrests per million in February. By June, the state had climbed to 10th place.

ICE arrested around 8,460 immigrants across California between Jan. 20 and June 26, a 212% increase compared with the five months before Trump took office. That contrasts with a 159% increase nationally for the same period.

Much of ICE’s activity in California was hyper-focused on Greater Los Angeles: About 60% of ICE arrests in the state took place in the seven counties in and around L.A. during Trump’s first five months in office. The number of arrests in the Los Angeles area soared from 463 in January to 2,185 in June — a 372% spike, second only to New York’s 432% increase.

Even if California is not seeing the largest numbers of arrests, experts say, the dramatic increase in captures stands out from other places because of the lack of official cooperation and public hostility toward immigration agents.

“A smaller increase in a place that has very little cooperation is, in a way, more significant than seeing an increase in areas that have lots and lots of cooperation,” Kocher said.

ICE agents, Kocher said, have to work much harder to arrest immigrants in places like L.A. or California that define themselves as “sanctuary” jurisdictions and limit their cooperation with federal immigration agents.

“They really had to go out of their way,” he said.

Trump administration officials have long argued that sanctuary jurisdictions give them no choice but to round up people on the streets.

Not long after Trump won the 2024 election and the L.A. City Council voted unanimously to block any city resources from being used for immigration enforcement, incoming border enforcement advisor Tom Homan threatened an onslaught.

“If I’ve got to send twice as many officers to L.A. because we’re not getting any assistance, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Homan told Newsmax.

With limited cooperation from California jails, ICE agents went out into communities, rounding up people they suspected of being undocumented on street corners and at factories and farms.

That shift in tactics meant that immigrants with criminal convictions no longer made up the bulk of California ICE arrests. While about 66% of immigrants arrested in the first four months of the year had criminal convictions, that percentage fell to 30% in June.

The sweeping nature of the arrests drew immediate criticism as racial profiling and spawned robust community condemnation.

Some immigration experts and community activists cite the organized resistance in L.A. as another reason the numbers of ICE arrests were lower in California than in Texas and even lower than dozens of states by percentage of population.

“The reason is the resistance, organized resistance: the people who literally went to war with them in Paramount, in Compton, in Bell and Huntington Park,” said Ron Gochez, a member of Unión del Barrio Los Angeles, an independent political group that patrols neighborhoods to alert residents of immigration sweeps.

“They’ve been chased out in the different neighborhoods where we organize,” he said. “We’ve been able to mobilize the community to surround the agents when they come to kidnap people.”

In L.A., activists patrolled the streets from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week, Gochez said. They faced off with ICE agents in Home Depot parking lots and at warehouses and farms.

“We were doing everything that we could to try to keep up with the intensity of the military assault,” Gochez said. “The resistance was strong. … We’ve been able, on numerous occasions, to successfully defend the communities and drive them out of our community.”

The protests prompted Trump to deploy the National Guard and Marines in June, with the stated purpose of protecting federal buildings and personnel. But the administration’s ability to ratchet up arrests hit a roadblock on July 11. That’s when a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking immigration agents in Southern and Central California from targeting people based on race, language, vocation or location without reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally.

That decision was upheld last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But on Thursday, the Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to lift the temporary ban on its patrols, arguing that it “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop.”

The order led to a significant drop in arrests across Los Angeles last month. But this week, federal agents carried out a series of raids at Home Depots from Westlake to Van Nuys.

Trump administration officials have indicated that the July ruling and arrest slowdown do not signal a permanent change in tactics.

“Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the communities and more work site enforcement,” Homan told reporters two weeks after the court blocked roving patrols. “Why is that? Because they won’t let one agent arrest one bad guy in the jail.”

U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who has been leading operations in California, posted a fast-moving video on X that spliced L.A. Mayor Karen Bass telling reporters that “this experiment that was practiced on the city of Los Angeles failed” with video showing him grinning. Then, as a frenetic drum and bass mix kicked in, federal agents jump out of a van and chase people.

“When you’re faced with opposition to law and order, what do you do?” Bovino wrote. “Improvise, adapt, and overcome!”

Clearly, the Trump administration is willing to expend significant resources to make California a political battleground and test case, Ruiz Soto said. The question is, at what economic and political cost?

“If they really wanted to scale up and ramp up their deportations,” Ruiz Soto said, “they could go to other places, do it more more safely, more quickly and more efficiently.”

A BRITISH grandad accused of trying to drown his daughter-in-law pleaded with cops that he is not in a relationship with her, The Sun can reveal.

Family sources claim Mark Gibbon, 62, has secretly been dating Jasmine Wyld – the mother of his grandchildren – for years.

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He was arrested last week and charged with attempted murder after allegedly forcing her head underwater at a Florida resort pool during a row over his will.

But despite reports of a love affair, both Gibbon and Wyld, 33, denied to cops they were a couple.

Polk County Sheriff’s Office told The Sun the pair had been quizzed on the status of their relationship.

A detective asked Gibbon and mum-of-two Wyld “about their relationship to determine if the incident would be classified as domestic violence”.

They both denied being in a romantic relationship, however.

It comes after a family source told the Daily Mail how the pair had grown close after Gibbon split from his partner and Wyld split from his son Alex.

The insider claimed: “Mark and Jasmine have been seeing each other for a few years, but they’ve never admitted it.

“[The couple] do an awful lot together and they go away on holiday with the children a couple of times every year.”

Gibbon is divorced from his wife and lives alone at a £800,000 semi-detached home in Beaconsfield he purchased in 2023.

Wyld – a hairdresser – separated from Gibbon’s son Alex, 34, back in 2021.

They share two young children together.

Just two years after they separated, Alex, 34, was jailed for trying to run over his dad in a £80,000 Porsche Cayenne in Beaconsfield, Bucks.

As well as assaulting his father, Alex also pleaded guilty to harassing ex-wife Wyld.

Alex was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court to 25 months in jail, a 36-month disqualification from driving, a five-year restraining order, plus a surcharge.

The dad was released from jail around six months ago and went to move in with his mum, who had divorced Gibbon some years earlier.

Alex and his father also became embroiled in a public row in 2023 after Alex left his dad’s business for an unknown reason.

The family source confirmed that Alex and Gibbon no longer speak.

They added: “He feels an awful betrayal at how his dad has struck up a relationship with the mother of his two children.”

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Gibbon – a lighting technician, who runs his own firm called MRG Lighting – is now being held in Polk County Jail and is due in court next week over the attempted murder charge levelled against him.

He and Wyld were on holiday at the Solterra Resort in Devenport, near Disney World, Florida with Wyld’s two children – Gibbon’s grandkids.

The reported couple started arguing over the “stipulations of his wilL” while by the pool, according to US police.

Gibbon then pushed Wyld’s head “under the water and held her down multiple times”, the arrest affidavit claims.

The mum told cops she “could not breathe and believed that she was going to drown”.

Police say Wyld was forced to “fight Mark in order to get away from him and from under the water but he kept pushing her back under”.

Her nine-year-old daughter then leapt to her mother’s defence but was pushed away by Gibbon, it is claimed.

Wyld is reported to have called out to two women in the distance and screamed at them to call 911.

Gibbon now faces one count of attempted murder and two counts of battery.

When questioned, Gibbon allegedly admitted to pushing Jasmine underwater, but insisted he hadn’t been trying to drown her.

The grandad is due in court on Monday.

A former Miami Heat security officer has been accused in federal court of stealing millions of dollars worth of team memorabilia — including a game-worn LeBron James jersey from the 2013 NBA Finals — and selling them to online brokers.

Appearing Wednesday at U.S. Superior Court for the Southern District of Florida, retired Miami police officer Marcus Thomas Perez pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce.

Perez, 62, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. His attorney, Robert Buschel, declined to comment when asked on Wednesday by The Times.

According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez worked on game-day security detail for the Heat from 2016-2021, and later worked as an NBA security employee from 2022-2025.

While employed by the Heat, the press release states, Perez “was among a limited number of trusted individuals with access to a secured equipment room” where “hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia” were being stored to be displayed at a future Heat museum.

“During his employment, Perez accessed the equipment room multiple times to steal over 400 game-worn jerseys and other items, which he then sold to various online marketplaces,” the press release states. “Over a three-year period, Perez sold over 100 stolen items for approximately $2 million and shipped them across state lines, often for prices well below their market value.”

One example listed in the press release is the jersey that James wore in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, during which the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight championship. Perez allegedly sold the jersey for around $100,000; it was sold in an online auction for $3.7 million in 2023.

In executing a search warrant at Perez’s home April 3, law enforcement “seized nearly 300 additional stolen game-worn jerseys and memorabilia,” all of which the Heat confirmed had been stolen from their facility, according to the press release.

HULK Hogan has been laid to rest in a private funeral with WWE legends, celebrities, and his family attending.

Mourners appeared to be wearing a touching nod to the wrestling icon as his casket was taken into a Clearwater, Florida, church on Tuesday.

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Hogan died on July 24 aged 71 from a heart attack, but medical records showed he had a history of leukaemia.

Wrestling icons like Triple H, Stephanie McMahon attended, while celebrities like singer Kid Rock and comedian Theo Von were also present.

His ex-wife Lina, who he was married to from 1983 to 2009, was the only member of his family seen going in or out of the service.

Photos from the funeral saw pallbearers wearing yellow boutonnieres – the same colour as Hulk’s iconic wrestling outfit.

The private service was held at the same church where Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was baptized in 2023.

The service was heavily patrolled by church security and Largo police officers, including K-9 dogs.

President Donald Trump paid tribute to the wrestler by posting a photo to his social media of the pair arm wrestling.

He said: “They are having the “Hulkster’s” funeral today, and I thought everybody would enjoy seeing this picture.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags flown at half-staff at all official buildings last Friday, which he declared Hulk Hogan Day in Florida.

Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his in-ring exploits.

He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

Hogan had been dealing with significant health issues for months when he went into cardiac arrest at his $11.5 million mansion in Clearwater.

He had a neck surgery in May, and was rushed to the hospital afterwards over complications with his recovery.

In June, he suffered a series of health issues that left him reportedly unable to feel his legs or walk with a cane.

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Hogan was also a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including Hogan Knows Best, a reality show about his life on VH1.

Hogan’s body will be cremated.

His daughter Brooke Bollea Oleksy, better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, memorialized her father in a recent social media post.

“I am so grateful I knew the real version of him. Not just the one the world viewed through a carefully curated lens, she wrote on Instagram.”

Just days before his death, Hogan and Brooke shared a short but emotional conversation, per the National Enquirer.

“It was a tearful conversation, albeit a short one,” a source told the outlet.

“Brooke told her dad how much she loved him, how much she missed him. Hulk said he loved her, and he was sorry.”

Instantly recognisable in trademark bandana and shaggy, blond handlebar moustache, Hogan had long been a larger-than-life icon for middle America.

Hogan became such a big star that he was able to transcend wrestling and starred in the movie The Rock III with Sylvester Stallone, as well as securing his own reality TV show, Hogan Knows Best.

Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, in 1953, his dad was a construction foreman father and his mum was a dance teacher.

At school, he was called a hippy because of his long hair, love of rock music and hatred of American football despite his physique.

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Aug. 4 (UPI) — Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier is demanding guest lists, surveillance footage and personal information from people who attended a drag Pride event in Vero Beach on June 29, according to Scott Simpson, organizer for Qommittee, a national volunteer network defending drag artists’ rights.

The group says that no laws were violated in the event, and Florida’s statewide “drag ban” has been blocked by federal courts. But state officials are “weaponizing existing laws to bully, intimidate, and surveil our community,” Simpson said.

Simpson’s group has publicized Floridians’ rights and called for organizing.

“This is serious government overreach designed to intimidate drag performers into silence,” he said. “They want performers to stop performing. They want venues to stop booking drag shows. They want our community to stop gathering and celebrating who we are.

“Going to a drag show should not mean you forfeit your anonymity or land your name in a government database,” Simpson said. “We cannot let that happen. Every drag performer and venue in Florida must stay loud, stay proud, and protect themselves while continuing their art.”

This isn’t the first attack on Vero Beach’s drag community. Linda Moore, the vice mayor of Vero Beach, is being investigated by Uthmeier for a “Pride Tea Dance” held last month at the Kilted Mermaid, a wine bar she owns in the town on the Atlantic coast. But it’s unclear what charges Moore might face and questions remain concerning Uthmeier’s legal basis for the investigation.

Uthmeier’s office cited evidence that the event was promoted as being open to all ages and included sexualized adult performers who “wore revealing attire and burlesque outfits while interacting with the children.”

“In Florida, we don’t sacrifice the innocence of children for the perversions of some demented adults,” Uthmeier said in a statement.

But Moore said the bar has hosted it for at least the past five years.

“We have the event every year; it’s our gay pride event, and it is all ages,” Moore said. “It’s a family-friendly event, and then once the drag show actually starts, we tell the parents who have small children that they can’t stay for the show.”

Simpson’s Qommittee website clarifies drag performers’ rights and realities, as well as Florida’s laws on drag shows open to all ages versus shows for adults only. It also tells performers how to protect themselves if they’re targeted by government officials and to keep performing and keep showing up at drag shows.

“This intimidation campaign wants us to self-censor out of fear,” Simpson said. “We will not give them that victory.”

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Federal officials have opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who indicted then-candidate Donald Trump on felony charges before his election to a second term.

The current Office of Special Counsel, traditionally an independent federal agency, on Saturday confirmed the investigation after reporting by other news organizations. Smith was named special counsel by then-Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to investigate Trump in November 2022 for his actions related to trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and his hoarding of classified documents at his home in Florida.

Trump and his Republican allies, including Sen. Tom Cotton, have — without offering evidence of wrongdoing — accused Smith of violating the Hatch Act, a federal law that bans certain public officials from engaging in political activity.

Smith prosecuted two federal cases against Trump and indicted him on multiple felony charges in both. He dropped both cases after Trump won the election in November, as a sitting president is shielded from prosecution according to long-standing Justice Department practice. Smith then subsequently resigned as special counsel.

Cotton (R-Ark.) on Wednesday asked the Office of Special Counsel to investigate Smith, alleging that his conduct was designed to help then-President Biden and then-Vice Presiedent Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee in last year’s race against Trump.

Trump is the only felon to ever occupy the White House, having been convicted in May 2024 on 34 criminal counts for fraud related to a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election, which he also won.

The White House had no immediate comment on the investigation.

The New York Post was first to report on the investigation into Smith.

Superville writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved from her prison in Tallahassee, Fla., to a low-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, though no reason has been given.

Maxwell, 63, has served five of her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. She was the accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker of underage girls.

The prison she was moved from is a low-security facility, and her destination is a minimum security one.

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, declined to elaborate, saying, “We can confirm that she was moved but we have no comment.”

Maxwell, with her attorney, recently met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days. There have been growing calls from Democrats and Republicans for President Donald Trump to release files on the Epstein case and worry that he may issue her a pardon, though he hasn’t said that he would.

Sam Mangel, a prison consultant who doesn’t represent Maxwell, suggested that she could be threatened, hurt or injured in the Tallahassee prison, especially if she continues to cooperate with the Justice Department. The Tallahassee prison houses gang members and violent offenders.

“Given her situation, [the move is] the best for her,” Mangel told CNN.

Josh Lepird, vice president for the region of the officers’ union that includes Bryan, Texas, said the transfer did not seem unusual to him, even for a high-profile prisoner.

“The only unusual thing is that you typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,” Lepird told the Houston Chronicle. “But if someone is a cooperating witness, they can request a lower security level.”

The move sparked concern from the family of one of Maxwell’s most vocal accusers, the late Virginia Giuffre, that the transfer is part of an undisclosed deal between the Justice Department and the Trump administration, spokesperson Dini von Mueffling told USA Today.

The family has expressed worry that Trump and some inside the DOJ are trying to silence Maxwell without receiving any input from potentially hundreds of accusers who say she and Epstein sexually abused them and forced them to have sex with prominent men. Those men have not been publicly identified.

“The family is scrambling right now to figure out what’s going on,” von Mueffling said. “They don’t understand why this is happening.”

Other inmates in the camp include Jen Shah, from the TV show The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos.

WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas as her criminal case generates renewed public attention.

The federal Bureau of Prisons said Friday that Maxwell had been transferred to Bryan, Texas, but did not explain the circumstances. Her attorney confirmed the move but also declined to discuss the reasons for it.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She had been held at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Fla., until her transfer to the prison camp in Texas, where other inmates include Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Jen Shah of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”

Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk. Some don’t even have fences.

The prison camps were originally designed with low security to make operations easier and to allow inmates tasked with performing work at the prison, such as landscaping and maintenance, to avoid repeatedly checking in and out of a main prison facility.

Maxwell’s case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department’s statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Since then, administration officials have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts.

Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse over two days last week by Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche.

The House Oversight Committee has separately said that it wants to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said this week that she would be open to an interview but only if the panel were to give her immunity from prosecution for anything she said.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.

Aug. 1 (UPI) — Tesla must pay $243 million for a 2019 accident that killed a pedestrian and badly injured another in the Florida Keys, a federal jury decided on Friday.

The accident occurred at a T-intersection after sundown in the Florida Keys in 2019 when the Tesla did not stop and rammed a parked SUV.

The collision killed Naibel Benavides Leon, 20, as she stood next to the SUV. Her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, was injured.

The Miami jury granted a $43 million award for compensatory damages for pain and suffering and another $200 million for punitive damages arising from the vehicular accident that occurred in the Florida Keys, NBC News reported.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs successfully argued Tesla officials overestimated the capabilities of the autopilot program in the Tesla Model S sedan that the defendant was driving.

The jury determined the plaintiff’s pain and suffering merited a total of $129 million in compensatory damages, but Tesla only pays a third of that amount.

The jury assigned one-third of the blame to Tesla and two-thirds to the driver, who said he was distracted while reaching for his cell phone when the accident occurred.

The motorist was sued separately from Tesla and was not a party to the federal lawsuit that the jury decided on Friday.

U.S. District Court of Southern Florida Judge Beth Bloom accepted the jury’s verdict and said she will order Tesla to pay the judgment.

The jury of eight found Tesla was partly liable because the vehicle’s autopilot system did not brake in time to prevent the deadly accident.

Officials for Elon Musk-owned and publicly traded electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla said they will appeal the jury’s verdict.

“Today’s verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology,” they said in a prepared statement.

“We plan to appeal given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial.”

Marcus Morris Sr. was denied bond during a hearing Tuesday morning in Florida’s Broward County two days after the former NBA player was arrested at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on felony fraud charges out of Nevada.

The judge denied Morris’ motion to set bond, saying that she did not have the jurisdiction to make such a ruling for an out-of-state case.

Footage from Tuesday’s hearing, posted online by TMZ, shows Morris in attendance, wearing a jail-issued beige jumpsuit and handcuffs. NBA free agent Markieff Morris also attended in support of his twin brother.

Records from the Las Vegas Township Justice Court indicate that warrants were issued earlier this year, one in March and the other in June, for Morris’ arrest. The Boca Raton, Fla., resident faces the same two felony counts in each case — drawing or passing a check for $1,200 or more with the intent to defraud and theft valued at $100,000 or more.

Yony Noy, an agent for Morris, has maintained on social media that Morris’ legal troubles stem from an outstanding marker with a casino.

During the proceedings, the prosecuting attorney representing the state of Florida, confirmed that there are two warrants for Morris’ arrest in Nevada and both are for outstanding markers for more than $100,000 each.

The prosecuting attorney also indicated that although Nevada is looking to extradite Morris, it is also willing to consider dismissing the charges if Morris’ debts are paid in full. An attorney representing Morris said that “a large payment” had already been sent via wire in an effort to resolve the issue.

Morris made more than $100 million in salary during an 11-year NBA career that included four seasons with the Clippers.

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.”