BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — A top state official says Alligator Alcatraz will be empty within days and that could cause Northeast Florida take center stage in the state’s immigration enforcement campaign.
The revelation about Alligator Alcatraz’s dwindling detainee population came through an email obtained by the Associated Press, which was sent by Florida’s Director of Emergency Management.
The message comes less than a week after a federal judge blocked new detainees from being brought to the immigrant detention center.
State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville), who has raised concerns about the conditions at Alligator Alcatraz, argued the entire project has been a waste of taxpayer dollars.
“We just wasted half a billion dollars on a facility that we knew should not have been opened in the first place, that the Governor, that Kevin Guthrie and that Donald Trump knew was gonna be shut down,” said Nixon.
Governor Ron DeSantis suggested the dwindling detainee population at Alligator Alcatraz is due to ongoing deportation flights during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“The deportations are continuing. DHS is taking people out of there and they’re moving them out,” said DeSantis.
As the state appeals the ruling, the conversion of the old Baker Correctional Institution into what has been dubbed “Deportation Depot” is ongoing.
During the announcement of the new facility the Governor told Action News Jax its construction was not related to the legal battle surrounding Alligator Alcatraz.
“We were always planning on doing it. I just wanted to be sure the demand was there. The demand is there,” said DeSantis on August 14th.
Deportation Depot is expected to have capacity for 1,300 detainees, which is less than the 2,000 Alligator Alcatraz could hold.
Short of a court victory, the Baker facility may become the only functional state-run detention center when it’s completed.
But the Governor said it will ultimately be up to the federal government to decide how much it’s utilized.
“But we’re ready to help. We want to continue to help. We have to continue with this mission,” said DeSantis during the Wednesday press conference.
The Governor teased Wednesday that there also may be additional detention facilities in the works.
Back in July, during the opening of Alligator Alcatraz, he had suggested the possibility of a third detention facility somewhere in the panhandle.
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