Future of Alligator Alcatraz unclear as shutdown reports surface

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. —

Questions continue to grow about the future of Alligator Alcatraz after reports surfaced this week claiming the controversial migrant detention facility in the Everglades could begin shutting down by early June.

The New York Times reported vendors at the facility were told detainees could soon be moved out, with the site then being dismantled in the following weeks.

On Wednesday, Gulf Coast News observed buses, employee vehicles, and work trucks continuing to move in and out of the facility while troopers remained stationed at the front gate.

Despite the reports, Gov. Ron DeSantis has not directly confirmed a closure timeline.

Instead, during multiple press conferences this week, DeSantis repeated that the facility was always intended to be temporary.

The governor said the decision ultimately depends on the federal government and the Department of Homeland Security.

"But if they have beds other places where they are able to do it, that's fine; it was never meant to be permanent," said DeSantis at a press conference in Titusville on Wednesday.

The state has said the detention facility costs roughly $1 million per day to operate and that Florida is still waiting on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal reimbursement.

The possible closure also comes as environmental groups continue a lawsuit challenging the facility.

In a press release on Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades said they “won’t let up until Alligator Alcatraz is shut down.”

The groups, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, sued over the project last year, arguing the facility was built without required environmental reviews and caused damage to the Everglades and tribal lands.

Jessica Namath with Floridians for Public Lands, who is working with the environmental groups involved in the lawsuit, said the reports match what advocates have been hearing from people connected to the site.

“Well, I think that we’ve heard what everybody heard yesterday,” Namath said. “When we heard yesterday that the facility hopes to have everybody moved out by June 1 and will begin remediating and taking things down in the following weeks, that seems to align very much with what we’ve heard from people on-site.”

Namath also said she has been in contact with a woman whose father is detained inside the facility and needs insulin. She claimed detainees have complained about inadequate food and medical care.

As of Wednesday evening, the state had not officially confirmed whether the facility will shut down in June.

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