Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced the closure of the immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz after less than a year of operation. Located at an isolated airstrip in the environmentally sensitive Ochopee region of the Everglades, the facility served as a symbol of President Donald Trump's aggressive deportation drive.
During a press conference at the now dismantled site alongside border czar Tom Homan, DeSantis presented the operation as a victory, boasting that 21,000 people were deported from the jail. The facility cost state taxpayers $1.2 million a day.
The center became a byword for cruelty and human rights abuses, with lawyers, families, and human rights groups claiming detainees were mistreated. The facility faced legal challenges and criticism concerning the conditions of detainees, due process, and environmental damage to the Everglades.
Governor DeSantis stated that the center was always meant to be a temporary emergency measure until federal officials secured permanent detention capacity. With that capacity now available, the governor said the facility is no longer needed.