Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security launched regular deportation flights from the makeshift camp at Dade-Collier airstrip on July 25, removing hundreds of migrants since operations began.
- Alligator Alcatraz opened in early July with capacity for about 2,000 detainees and plans to double its beds to 4,000, leveraging its remote Everglades location and on-site runway to speed removals.
- Florida officials are applying for up to $450 million in annual operating cost reimbursement through FEMA’s new $608 million Detention Support Grant Program, with states able to apply until August 8.
- Attorneys for a Central Florida DACA recipient have challenged his transfer from the camp to Glades County Jail without formal deportation charges, filing motions for his release and habeas corpus petitions.
- The facility has drawn lawsuits and protests over environmental impact, indigenous rights, detainee access to counsel and hurricane evacuation planning as it serves as a prototype for similar state-led detention centers.