The immigration detention center in the Everglades, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," was built in eight days. Now, less than a year in operation, the facility might close as soon as next month.
According to a Tuesday report from The New York Times, vendors were told by officials at the center that detainees would be moved from the facility by the beginning of June. It's unknown where they would go, but the federal government has other detention centers.
The center would then be broken down over the following weeks. The news organization cited anonymous sources, three of which familiar with the facility's operations and one a federal official.
This closure timeline has not been confirmed yet by Gov. Ron DeSantis or the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which operates the center.
However, DeSantis said last week that Florida officials and the Trump administration may be talking about closing the facility.
His comments came on the same day as the New York Times' initial report that the facility has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to operate since last summer.
Officials told the Times last week that shutdown talks were in the early stages, but the Department of Homeland Security said it costs too much money to continue operating.
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Speaking during a news conference last week in Lakeland, DeSantis said the center was never meant to be open long-term.
"I said on Day One it was going to be temporary," DeSantis said. "We didn't know how long, because we didn't know what funding was going to be passed, how the DHS would stand up all this stuff. But it is going to be temporary.
"At some point, we will, of course, break it down. That was always the goal," DeSantis continued.
Public records shared with WUSF show the state created a yearly cost breakdown for the facility. The state prepared the breakdown for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the grant decision process. The state was granted the award, but the money was never released.
The federal government has not contributed money to pay for the facility.
Environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Everglades are suing the state and federal government to shut down the center. They filed suit before it opened, seeking to stop operations and alleging violations of state and federal laws during construction. The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida joined the complaint weeks later.
Following reports of the closure, attorneys said they'll keep fighting to see the case through.
“This destructive detention camp in the middle of the Everglades should have never been built, but I’m glad it may finally shut down. Until it does, we’re going to fight on in district court with everything we’ve got,” said Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“This destructive and pointless project has harmed some of Florida’s most vulnerable plants and animals and upended the lives of too many people. To even begin to set things right for Big Cypress and the Everglades, we'll spare no effort to shut the facility down and restore the site so nothing like this disaster ever happens again,” she added.
Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, said the "dark chapter in Everglades history can't end soon enough."
"Until then, we’re not taking our foot off the gas — we’re headed back to federal district court with more strong claims to bring," Samples said. "The only acceptable remedy is shutting down Alligator Alcatraz and full remediation of the harm inflicted.”
As the lawsuit to close "Alligator Alcatraz" continues to move through the courts, the detention center remains open and operational.
