It was once a hotly debated decision, and then the opening of the immigrant detention facility in the western stretches of Dade County, Florida, caused further outrage. But over the past months, mention of Alligator Alcatraz has cooled considerably. Typical of most political controversies, the initial outrages were filled with hyperbole and empty accusations, and eventually, it was all but a forgotten enterprise operating in the Florida Everglades.
This week, the head-turning announcement was that the facility may be set for closure. A report from the New York Times mentioned that talks were underway about shuttering the location. (For curious reasons, the Times felt the need to alert readers that Governor Ron DeSantis is a “Republican”.) The decisions behind this seem varied - from hurricane concerns, a diminished need, or the change in DHS leadership - but the primary driving force appears to be money.
Estimates are that the operating costs for Alligator Alcatraz run the state approximately $1 million a day, and that reimbursements from DHS have yet to be made, with the long government shutdown over DHS funding a major contributor to that delay. Whether this has been the primary point of discussion is not clear, and discussions are all that have taken place so far. This was supported by comments made by the governor at a press conference on Thursday.
"I said on day one it was going to be temporary, we didn't know how long because we didn't know what funding was going to be passed, how the DHS would stand up all this stuff, but it is going to be temporary, at some point we will of course break it down, that was always the goal, and then that airport will just go back to its normal use," DeSantis said.
Tom Homan has also alluded to this possibility, confirming that talks were made, but nothing concrete was decided. "We're talking about it. We're talking about a lot of detention facilities. There's a whole process going on right now on the future of detention. So that is in the mix amongst a lot of facilities."
The press, of course, loves recalibrating things. Take The New Republic, which said there have been “secret talks” to close the facility…despite the very public comments seen from DeSantis and Homan. Others have desperately tried to paint this as a successful legal victory by those who have been suing over the operation of Alligator Alcatraz. The courts have tried to have the facility closed last fall for not having conducted federally mandated environmental reviews, but this was overruled, as it was deemed to be a state-run operation.
Other controversies surrounding Alligator Alcatraz had been hysterical. First came the complaints of inhumane conditions inside the facilities; these were being made BEFORE detainees had even been brought in, to give a sense of the hyperbole. Next came claims that those held there were given maggot-filled food, which seemed a stretch, given the place had just opened. Elephantine mosquitoes were reported, and inmates were eating from dog bowls on the floor. Uh huh.
These were the result of the Telephone Game reports in the press. Reporters were told these details by family members, relaying what was being claimed by the detainees phoning from the facility. One of the best was the complaint of freezing conditions inside; in Florida, in a swamp area, in the middle of July. The local paper was in hyperdrive with condemnation, as the Miami Herald in one stretch posted 75 entries on the facility in one week, with a total of 200 written in one month, from the announcement to its opening.
One other cause for this decision might be the diminished need for it from previous levels. Since it has opened, Alligator Alcatraz has housed at any time 22,000 individuals. There had been plans to expand the size, but currently, the 2,000-person capacity operates just over half filled. Homan has suggested this is due to the state of Florida being cooperative and streamlining the detention efforts with ICE and Border Patrol. "We need less resources in Florida than we do in sanctuary cities because ... they are accepting retainers, they are working with us to remove public safety threats," Homan said.
So it remains to be seen how this closure will be a matter of when, not “if”. We may be seeing the demise of a significant flashpoint in President Trump’s second term as president.
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