Inmates have been moved out of Alligator Alcatraz, the Everglades migrant detention site, the Trump administration confirmed Wednesday to Inside Climate News.
“As we enter into hurricane season, ICE and the state of Florida have moved illegal aliens from the soft-sided facility,” according to a statement provided by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. “For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities.”
For weeks, speculation has swirled amid reports the facility would close imminently. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been funding the site using the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, after issuing an executive order in 2023 declaring a state of emergency related to immigration. More than $6.5 billion has been disbursed from the fund since its establishment in 2022, the vast majority for hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Some $573 million has gone toward immigration, including Alligator Alcatraz.
The facility, composed of a cluster of tents, is situated on a remote Everglades air strip surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve and the lands of the Miccosukee Tribe. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and extends through the end of November.
