COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — A variety of vehicles filtered in and out of the “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility on Wednesday, including Florida Highway Patrol cruisers and trucks with equipment and supplies. Even UPS made a stop.
An aerial view from Sky 10 showed structures are still in place, but the facility is not quite as busy as it has been in the past.
This activity comes after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement Tuesday, saying: “As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility. For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.”
When Local 10 News asked DHS officials where the detainees have been moved to and how many might still be at the facility, they sent the same statement and did not elaborate.
Kevin Guthrie, the state’s emergency management director, previously said that the facility could withstand a Category 2 hurricane.
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked if the facility was closing or not.
“It was never meant to be permanent and so we won’t do that,” he said. “I don’t think that it’s empty now, at least as of yesterday when I was briefed on it.”
The facility is located deep in the Everglades and was constructed quickly last summer. It has received sharp criticism from environmental groups, whose lawsuit remains intact.
“It seems to be business as usual,” Jessica Namath, the founder of the group Floridians for Public Lands, said.
Namath joined a virtual press conference with other environmental groups discussing the detention center. She says she has more questions than answers.
“If there are no detainees, as a public land lover and wanting to access the site, I don’t know (under) what premise they are still maintaining their footprint,” she said
It has also been an expensive operation, costing Florida taxpayers roughly $1.2 million a day out of the emergency management fund.
Guthrie has mentioned that the state has requested $390 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a reimbursement for this facility.
“FEMA is working closely with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the State of Florida,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement. “Reimbursement requests are in process. Updates will be provided as the process continues.”
According to FEMA, the agency has already reimbursed $58.2 million to the state.
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