Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The "dangerous and unlawful conditions" inside the state-managed immigration detention camp in the Everglades pose serious health implications for hundreds of detainees, says a group of health professionals and immigrant advocates.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has already signed at least $245 million in state contracts to set up and run the new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades. That's according to a public database that tracks state spending. The amount for the site dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" is to be fronted by Florida taxpayers. It's in line with the $450 million a year officials have estimated the facility will cost. The pricetag is a reminder of the investment in public funding that the DeSantis administration is making to help carry out President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda.

Federal officials are “overwhelmed” by the number of undocumented immigrants being locked up as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan because of a detention-bed shortage, according to a key player in Florida’s efforts to assist the White House.The capacity issue is expected to escalate in Florida in the coming weeks as sheriffs and police chiefs ramp up arrests and detention of undocumented immigrants, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Cabinet members, who met Tuesday as the State Board of Immigration Enforcement.

A different kind of demonstration was held Saturday in the shadow of the Everglades immigration detention center called Alligator Alcatraz. It was a demonstration of faith and hope — faith encompassing Native Indian beliefs as well as modern religious tenets and hope that change could come.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration left many local officials in the dark about the immigration detention center that rose from an isolated airstrip in the Everglades. That's according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. DeSantis relied on an executive order to seize the land, hire contractors and bypass laws and regulations. The emails show that local officials in southwest Florida were still trying to chase down a rumor about the sprawling "Alligator Alcatraz" facility planned for their county while state officials were already on the ground and sending vendors through the gates to coordinate construction. The detention center was designed to house thousands of migrants and went up in a matter of days.

Two people keenly familiar with the Everglades are on a mission to blunt the image stoked by the name Alligator Alcatraz.

State lawmakers and members of Congress will be able to visit a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades on Saturday, after some Democratic legislators last week were denied access to inspect the facility. The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Wednesday sent an email inviting “congressional and state legislators” to tour the detention center, which state officials hurriedly erected as part of an effort to help President Donald Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants.

The Trump administration Thursday argued a federal judge should deny a request to block operation of a detention center in the Everglades for undocumented immigrants, saying Florida has been responsible for the project dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed a nine-page document opposing a request by environmental groups for a temporary restraining order to halt operation of the facility. Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit last week, accompanied by the request for a temporary restraining order.And the first group of immigrants has arrived at the new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades, a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed Monday that President Donald Trump may be making a visit to the "Alligator Alcatraz" site being prepared in the Everglades in eastern Collier County.That confirmation came after Special VIP Movement Notifications and Notices for Airmen were issued for both Palm Beach Airport, near where the Trump's Mar-A-Lago residence is, and Ochopee, the location designation for the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport where the Alcatraz site is located. There is also a petition on Change.org seeking to stop the project.

A seemingly non-stop stream of dump trucks and semi rigs entering the grounds of what's now been dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" roared past hundreds of sign-waving and chanting protestors Saturday as they lined U.S. 41 east and west of the site in the Big Cypress National Preserve.The second significant protest in as many weeks was pulled together by people such as Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee leader and environmental educator who lives near the facility. There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole tribal villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds throughout the area.Protest organizers fear that letting the camp spring into life will help developers open the environmentally sensitive area to homes, stores and more.