'Alligator Alcatraz,' Florida's controversial immigrant detention center, to close: reports

"Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial immigrant detention center built last year in Florida’s Everglades, is closing down soon, according to multiple reports. 

The reported closure comes after multiple lawsuits accusing the facility of inhumane conditions for detainees, blocking access to lawyers and ignoring environmental concerns in the Everglades’ delicate ecosystem. Here’s the latest:   

Why is ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ closing? 

What we know:

According to The New York Times, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed Alligator Alcatraz as ineffective and too expensive to run.

Officials told private vendors that detainees will be moved starting in June, with the center closing in the following weeks. 

What we don't know:

It’s unclear where the detainees will be sent. 

What they're saying:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week that the center was always meant to be temporary. 

"At some point, we will, of course, break it down. That was always the goal," the Republican governor said/ 

What is "Alligator Alcatraz"? 

The backstory:

Known as "Alligator Alcatraz," the controversial detention center was built last summer at a remote airstrip by DeSantis’ administration to support President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Florida also has built a second immigration detention center in north Florida.

By the numbers:

Florida has spent more than $1 million a day to run the facility, and DeSantis has said he expects reimbursement from the federal government. The state has not yet received $608 million it has requested.

DeSantis said the facility has processed and deported 22,000 detainees since it opened last summer.

According to The New York Times, some private vendors say they’ve been having to front costs for operations at Alligator Alcatraz. One vendor told The Times that it’s been more than 200 days since the state paid some invoices. 

Meanwhile, detainees at the facility have described poor physical conditions and difficulty accessing lawyers.

Detainees are segregated based on criminal history and whether they are considered a flight risk, according to a handbook made public as part of a lawsuit over whether detainees have proper access to attorneys. It says that during regular head counts, detainees aren’t allowed to move or talk. If they do, they can be punished, along with everyone in their dorm, by being locked in their housing unit.

A lawsuit from people formerly held at Alligator Alcatraz claims that their First Amendment rights were violated. They say attorneys have to make an appointment to visit three days in advance, unlike at other immigration detention facilities where lawyers can just show up during visiting hours; that detained people often are transferred to other facilities before their attorneys’ appointments to see them; and that scheduling delays have been so lengthy that detainees were unable to meet with attorneys before key deadlines.

Environmental groups have also filed lawsuits against the facility, claiming it opened without undergoing federally required environmental impact assessments, which they argue puts the delicate ecosystem at risk from increased human activity, noise and light pollution.