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Florida Says It Will Restart 'Alligator Alcatraz' if Appeals Court Grants Stay as DeSantis Floats New Sites

An appeals fight over a judge’s environmental injunction now dictates whether Florida’s Everglades detention site stays dormant or reopens.

A police officer urges Art Sennholtz, 80, center, and Christy Howard, 70, of Just Us Volusia to be careful of fast-moving traffic as they hold protest signs outside the entrance to an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz," Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
People take pictures in front of a sign reading "Alligator Alcatraz" as passerby, some opposed, some in support, visit the entrance to an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A member of "Leaders of Faith and Conscience" can be seen holding a placard reading "free them" during a weekly interfaith vigil outside the immigrant detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida, on August 24, 2025. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Trucks come and go from the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Overview

  • Florida told a court it plans to resume accepting federal detainees at the Everglades facility if the 11th Circuit stays a preliminary injunction.
  • A federal judge’s order bars new transfers and further construction and requires removal of temporary fencing, lighting and generators within 60 days.
  • DHS has halted transfers to the site, and a state email indicated the population could drop to zero within days.
  • State and federal officials have appealed and asked the 11th Circuit for a stay after the district judge declined to pause her order.
  • Gov. Ron DeSantis promoted alternate detention plans, including a reopened unit at Baker Correctional Institution and proposed sites dubbed “Panhandle Pokey” and “Deportation Depot.”