TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigration detention center in the heart of the Florida Everglades, is officially shutting down.
The governor, alongside federal immigration officials, confirmed at a press conference in Ochopee that demobilization efforts were underway at the site he said has facilitated almost 21,000 deportations.
“Alligator Alcatraz fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve,” he said. “Today, it now has zero detainees. It has helped remove many, many dangerous people from the street and get them out of not only the state of Florida but the United States of America.”
Alligator Alcatraz opened just shy of a year ago after being hastily constructed on a sparsely used airstrip, and was immediately ballyhooed by state Republicans and President Donald Trump’s administration as a victory in the president’s broader immigration crackdown.
