Ron DeSantis Closes Alligator Alcatraz After Deporting 21,000 People

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that the Everglades immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” has closed, confirming that it had “zero detainees” and that the facility was always meant to be temporary.

DeSantis said he deported 21,000 people through the site, and he spoke at the now dismantled location in Ochopee alongside White House Border Czar Tom Homan.

ABC News

At the press conference, DeSantis framed the closure as a completion of the mission, saying “Alligator Alcatraz fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve,” while CBS News reported that all detainees were relocated.

Officials announced a temporary closure earlier in June, and they sent detainees to other facilities after saying hurricane season made it unsafe to keep them in the Florida Everglades.

AP reported that DeSantis said the center opened in July 2025 and closed Thursday after federal officials now had the ability to handle detention and deportation in more permanent facilities.

DeSantis and Tom Homan defended the detention operation by arguing it made Florida safer, with DeSantis saying “Today it now has zero detainees” and that it had “helped remove many, many dangerous people from the street.”

Homan praised DeSantis’ cooperation with the federal government, saying “Governor DeSantis was one of the first governors to step up,” while the AP reported that immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane for holding people.

AP News

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit in August 2025 seeking to shut down the facility, accused the center of being “a moral failure, an environmental threat, and a fiscal disaster,” according to MS NOW.

Detainees and advocates described conditions including worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere, and CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede reported vendors were bringing a close to the $1.2 billion experiment.

Environmental groups and attorneys for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity said the state and federal governments would still be held responsible, with Paul J. Schwiep saying, “The law will not allow them to escape accountability.”

With the detention center shut down, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said her administration intends to pursue permanent conservation of county-owned land currently occupied by “Alligator Alcatraz,” aiming to incorporate it into the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Cava said in a statement, “Once this facility is decommissioned, we have an opportunity to permanently protect these lands for Everglades restoration and ensure they remain protected for generations to come,” and CBS News reported her office would evaluate the legal process needed to sell and transfer the land.

The Guardian reported that DeSantis said he was still expecting the federal government to reimburse Florida for up to $1bn spent on the jail, but he said he was unable to give a timeline.

Court and legal challenges remain active, with the Guardian describing an ongoing lawsuit brought by several advocacy groups and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians over claims the jail harmed the fragile Everglades wetlands with pollution and concrete slabs.

AP added that environmental groups sued over the detention center, saying Florida officials never got the proper permits or did required reviews on its impact, and Schwiep said the administration would be asked to ensure “the environmental damage is fully addressed” even after closure.