MIAMI (AP) — All detainees at an immigration detention center in an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades, known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” have been transferred to other facilities, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, citing concerns related to the hurricane season.Conditions at the South Florida Detention Center have been praised by President Donald Trump but harshly criticized by l awyers, families and human rights groups, who have persistently denounced the mistreatment of detainees since the center opened 11 months ago, during the Atlantic hurricane season.DHS said that all detainees at the Florida state-run facility had been transferred but did not specify how many or where they were taken. Nor did it say whether the facility would close permanently or only temporarily.“For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities,” department spokesperson Lauren Bis said in an emailed statement.
The hurricane season spans six months, from June through November. The detention facility opened on July 3, 2025, one month after the start of that year’s hurricane season, which concluded without any storms making landfall in Florida. It has been operating since then.
