Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigrant detention center shuts after about a year

Florida’s immigrant detention center in the Everglades, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” has closed nearly a year after it was opened. Governor Ron DeSantis said the facility was always intended to operate for roughly one year, until more permanent detention centers were built, and that federal authorities now have enough capacity elsewhere.

DeSantis said about 21,000 people were deported through the facility and insisted, “It fulfilled its purpose for the time it was needed,” adding that “there is no doubt that this mission made the state of Florida safer.” He said the runway around the site will remain in use even after the detention center closes.

State authorities announced earlier this month that the site would be shut down temporarily because hurricane season made holding detainees in the Everglades dangerous. All detainees were transferred to other facilities. The center had been rapidly built in 2025 by the DeSantis administration, and President Donald Trump visited it. Both men presented it as a key part of an immigration policy meant to return undocumented migrants to their home countries.

Immigrant-rights groups strongly criticized the site’s conditions, saying the tents “were never safe or humane.” Detainees reported difficulty reaching lawyers, worms in food, broken toilets, sewage flooding, and heavy mosquito and insect problems. The Florida Immigrant Coalition said the closure does not change the harm done to migrants held for months, and claimed the only winners were “corporations and contractors” that made millions while Republicans pushed an immigration emergency it said did not exist. Lawyers for detainees also said their clients were unexpectedly moved early this month to detention facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas, and that families and attorneys did not know for about a week where they were being held.