Overview

• Justice Department attorneys told a federal court that detainees at the Everglades site include people who have never entered removal proceedings, contradicting Gov. Ron DeSantis’s repeated claims that all had final deportation orders.
• FEMA approved roughly $608 million through its new Detention Support Grant Program to reimburse Florida’s detention costs, with expenses still subject to federal review before funds are released; ICE separately announced $38 million for equipment and transport.
• Operations continue after an appeals panel stayed a district judge’s wind‑down order over likely environmental law violations, and advocates report detainees are hard to locate in public ICE systems with restricted confidential access to counsel.
• Florida is rotating county sheriff teams to secure the camp’s perimeter for week‑long stints, with local agencies fronting costs and the state reimbursing them.
• DeSantis said a third temporary detention site dubbed the ‘Panhandle Pokey’ is underway, though the state has not disclosed its location, cost or capacity.