Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday the Everglades immigration detention center has served its purpose, responding to reports that the temporary facility may close.
The New York Times reported Thursday morning that “Florida is in talks with the Trump administration” to shut down the facility dubbed by DeSantis’ administration as “Alligator Alcatraz,” adding that the talks are “preliminary but that “officials at the Department of Homeland Security have concluded that it is too expensive to keep operating the center.”
During a bill-signing ceremony imposing regulations on artificial intelligence data centers, the governor did not dispute the possible shutdown, instead reiterating that it is a stopgap meant to help the federal government house detainees it lacked room for.
“It was always designed to be a temporary facility. It has made a major impact and, if we shut the lights out on it tomorrow, we will be able to say it served its purpose because it was responsible for helping with almost 22,000 illegal aliens, and that ultimately is what it’s all about,” DeSantis said.
If the federal government is able to independently handle the volume of people it deports, “that would be great for us to break that facility down,” the governor said. The state constructed the facility last year, garnered national headlines, and hosted President Donald Trump for a tour.
Who will foot the bill for the facility, comprising tents, mobile housing, and other infrastructure that must be shipped to the remote location, is not finalized.
Florida insists the federal government will reimburse the state hundreds of millions of dollars, although it has not yet.
DeSantis reiterated claims that aggressive deportations save tax dollars because those forced out of the country are no longer using government resources.
“And, by the way, all the expenses are reimbursable by the federal government. And that will happen. I know the media has made a big deal. It’s FEMA, it takes a while, we’re getting it. You’ll see that very shortly,” DeSantis said, adding that he talked to federal border czar Tom Homan about it “the other day.”
Now that Kristi Noem is no longer DHS secretary, DeSantis said, the new leader of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, will “take a fresh look at these things,” and that the “mission continues” in pursuing Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“We are the No. 1 state by far in terms of agreements with DHS — 287(g) — and that facility was created because we were requested by DHS to assist them with bed space,” DeSantis said. “They didn’t have the place to put illegal aliens that had been apprehended.”
“If we didn’t have that facility, DHS did not have room to put them anywhere. They would have been released back to the public,” DeSantis said.
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
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