Florida will shut down the immigration detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" after nearly a year of operation, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday, bringing an end to one of the state's most controversial migrant detention sites.
DeSantis said the center was always supposed to be temporary and now federal officials have enough ability to handle detention and deportation in more permanent facilities.
"It served its purpose for the time,” the Republican governor said.
Officials announced a temporary closure of the facility earlier in June, saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep the detainees in the Florida Everglades. All the people kept at the isolated airstrip had been sent to other facilities.
Immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people. Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers, and have described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.
The detention center was built by DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days in 2025 and President Trump came to visit the site.
DeSantis and Trump said the detention center was critical to Republican efforts to return people in the country illegally back to their home countries. The Republican governor said 21,000 people were deported through the facility.
