Editor's note: This story was originally published by The Florida Trib.
The initial installment of the long-awaited $608 million federal reimbursement for “Alligator Alcatraz” is expected to hit the state of Florida’s bank account in a matter of days, according to correspondence obtained by The Florida Trib.
“Please expect an electronic payment to be made to your organization’s bank within 3 to 5 business days,” reads a May 15 email from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the state agency that oversees the operation of the detention center.
The federal government’s approval of the $58.2 million payment was first reported by the Florida Phoenix.
The amount is a fraction of what Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has spent to build the sprawling tent-and-trailer compound at a remote airstrip in the Florida Everglades, which has cost the state more than $1 million a day to operate.
It’s not clear what this first installment is meant to pay for, how many further payments the state can expect and when those may materialize. In recent months, attorneys for the federal government had repeatedly cast doubt on whether the reimbursement would be approved and specified that any funds could not be used for construction costs.
“Any potential future federal funding is reimbursement-based, calculated per detainee, and available only for operational costs—not construction or facility modification,” U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote in a February legal filing.
State officials initially pitched the makeshift detention facility as an “an efficient, low-cost opportunity,” but expenses have soared with little oversight by state lawmakers, who created a multi-billion-dollar fund allowing DeSantis to spend prodigiously on what he deems are emergencies. The businesses of major GOP donors are among those that have netted multi-million dollar contracts to build and run the lockup in the Everglades.
A spokesperson for DeSantis could not confirm Monday whether the check had been deposited in Florida’s account, directing a reporter to FDEM, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Private vendors hired by the state to build the site were recently told to prepare to dismantle it, with detainees to be moved out ahead of the June 1 start of hurricane season, as first reported by the New York Times, which pointed to federal officials’ concerns that the cost of running the remote compound has exceeded its usefulness.
DeSantis continues to defend the facility, which he said has helped deport 22,000 people. The governor has acknowledged that state and federal officials have discussed closing the site, though he said he hasn’t gotten any “official word” and that the compound was always meant to be temporary.
Kate Payne is The Tributary’s state government reporter. She’s spent her career in nonprofit newsrooms in Florida and Iowa and her reporting has run the gamut, from interviewing presidential candidates on the campaign trail to middle schoolers in the lunch line. Kate has won awards for her political reporting, sound editing and feature writing and was named 2024 journalist of the year by the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Kate’s previous newsrooms include the Associated Press and WLRN Public Media in Miami. Her stories and photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, NPR and PBS, and her reporting on the death penalty has been cited in a filing in the U.S. Supreme Court. She can be reached at kate.payne@floridatrib.org. The Tributary is a nonprofit newsroom producing high-impact government accountability and investigative journalism in the public interest. Based in Jacksonville, the Florida Trib's mission is to shine a light on systemic problems and solutions, hold those in power accountable, and focus on under covered topics through collaboration with other news organizations and the community.
