The Department of Justice is preventing a federal grant from going to Florida to pay for the Everglades immigration detention center that the state calls “Alligator Alcatraz,” according to Florida’s emergency chief.
This was one of several revelations made by Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie to reporters on Thursday — a first for transparency in the bitterly controversial and highly obfuscated saga of the center.
But the revelations highlighted a deepening contradiction between what state and federal authorities are saying about whether Florida will be reimbursed for its immigration efforts.
Among Guthrie’s claims are that the Federal Emergency Management Agency isn’t pleased with the Justice Department’s involvement, and that Guthrie didn’t receive the finalized, $608 million immigration reimbursement agreement until December. This contradicts past claims that Florida had received the award in September.
Guthrie said he hasn’t spoken directly with the DOJ.
The DOJ declined comment and FEMA couldn’t be reached.
“That reimbursement is right now put on hold by the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice has now weighed in on DHS’s agreement,” Guthrie told reporters, adding that he doesn’t know why the money is being tied up.
“We actually just got notified … days ago or a week ago from an email with FEMA that says [the agreement] is actually held up by the Department of Justice.”
Guthrie spoke following a three-hour committee hearing examining how much of a state emergency management fund the state had spent on immigration efforts. According to an FDEM report released over the weekend, the agency spent more than $573 million on immigration since the fund’s creation in 2022.
Is Florida going to be reimbursed?While Florida’s leaders have long claimed that the state would be federally reimbursed for the estimated $250 million price tag associated with the Everglades facility — with DeSantis boasting that another “hoax” bit the dust because Florida had reportedly been receiving federal dollars over naysayers’ doubts — federal attorneys have struck an entirely different chord.
On Feb. 3, attorneys representing DHS claimed in a court filing that the feds may not reimburse FDEM for construction costs and may even “ultimately disallow the requested costs altogether.” This is because “multiple discretionary steps” remain, and “no final or major federal action” has happened, the attorneys argued.
“The existence of a state application is only a preliminary step towards a final federal funding decision, and FEMA has not made that ultimate decision even now,” they wrote.
Guthrie, meanwhile, laid out a reimbursement timeline on Thursday. Florida didn’t receive FEMA’s final award notice until December, he said, after DHS twice amended the agreement.
“We’ve only had that award maybe eight weeks in general,” he said Thursday. This draws a sharp contrast to previous claims that Florida was awarded the grant in late September.
Instead, Guthrie revealed, DHS gave notice of intent to award the full $608 million on the night of Sep. 30. Then,”nothing happened on that grant” during the federal shutdown from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12.
“When they came back from the shutdown, DHS and FEMA had amended the agreement at their request,” he said. “That happened twice.”
It’s unclear what those amendments say and what the final version of the agreement looks like. Guthrie’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and the emergency fund“Alligator Alcatraz” is a temporary migrant detention center built atop a near-defunct airport in the Everglades. Nearly 15,000 detainees have been through the facility since it opened in July, according to Guthrie.
It’s come under heavy scrutiny from Democrats, environmentalists, and humanitarian groups, who’ve all filed lawsuits to either shut down the center or broaden its transparency.
Most recently, a Leon County Circuit Court ordered FDEM to release all texts, emails, and other communications with federal authorities about how the center was set up and run, amid confusion over when FDEM began grant award communications with FEMA.
The money would reimburse the state for costs incurred in operating two Florida detention centers. If Florida receives the money, it will go straight into the emergency response fund.
Lawmakers on Thursday voted along party lines to continue the fund for another year. Democrats, who supported the idea of a trust fund designed specifically for emergencies, accused the DeSantis administration of “using and abusing” the money on immigration.
In 2023, DeSantis declared an immigration state of emergency in Florida. He’s since renewed that emergency declaration every two months. This empowers the administration to dip into the fund for immigration efforts.
His administration has spent $6.5 billion on emergency response since 2022. This includes responses to hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, rescue flights to Israel and Haiti, and immigration-related activities, like “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” in Baker County, plus monitoring anti-Trump protests.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
