Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday the federal government will fund an effort by Florida to set up immigration detention centers, which include a proposed site in the Everglades that state officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Noem said the detention facilities in Florida will be funded “in large part” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s shelter and services program, an initiative created by Congress to support groups and cities receiving migrants and asylum-seekers released from federal custody along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Primarily charged with overseeing disaster relief efforts, FEMA is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that has faced significant cuts under the second Trump administration.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” Noem said in a statement to CBS News. “We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida.”
Officials in Tallahassee first announced plans to help the federal government expand its capacity to hold detainees awaiting deportation last week.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said a largely abandoned airfield in the Everglades would be repurposed as a detention facility to house immigrants living in the U.S. illegally with criminal records. He dubbed it “Alligator Alcatraz,” saying any detainees seeking to escape would face alligators and pythons in the treacherous wetlands surrounding the site.
On Monday, Uthmeier announced the federal government had “approved” the state’s plan to build “Alligator Alcatraz” and other facilities that he said could collectively house as many as 5,000 detainees. He said the facilities could start receiving detainees early next month, calling them temporary.
“There’s really nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out,” Uthmeier said in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, describing the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.
The announcement that federal officials plan to reimburse Florida for building immigration holding facilities illustrates a broader effort by Republican-led states to help the Trump administration carry out its promised mass deportation campaign.
As the Trump administration has aggressively expanded immigration arrests throughout the country, its efforts have been aided by law enforcement officials in red states like Louisiana, Texas and Florida. In Texas, state National Guard troops have been deputized as immigration officers and given the authority to enforce federal immigration laws.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.
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