Overview

• The 3,000-bed facility on a former Everglades airstrip opened July 1 after eight days of construction, carrying a $450 million annual price tag funded by Florida and federal grants
• President Trump toured the site with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Gov. Ron DeSantis as Noem repeated an unverified cannibal-in-flight anecdote to emphasize the focus on dangerous migrants
• House Democrats led by Reps. Janelle Bynum and Maxwell Frost demanded closure of the camp, calling its conditions “cruel and inhumane” and questioning its legal and human rights basis
• A coalition of environmental groups sued DHS over alleged harm to the Big Cypress National Preserve’s wetlands, wildlife and water quality from the facility’s construction and operations
• Administration and state officials advocate replicating the Everglades model to accelerate a mass deportation policy that has sharply increased ICE arrests of migrants without criminal convictions