Overview
- The governor confirmed on Thursday that the temporary Everglades facility has zero detainees and state contractors were told to begin full demobilization.
- DeSantis said the site helped process roughly 21,000 deportations and that dismantling would take about one to two weeks while a Baker County processing center remains open.
- Former detainees and advocates complained of crowded tent housing, overflowing toilets, worms in food, limited medical care and restricted access to lawyers, leading to lawsuits and court orders demanding legal access.
- Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe sued over construction on fragile wetlands, and Miami-Dade officials have proposed selling the land to the National Park Service for restoration.
- The operation cost more than a billion dollars, the federal government has approved hundreds of millions in reimbursements but Florida has received only a fraction so far, leaving outstanding vendor and demobilization bills.