Florida’s controversial immigration detention center in the Everglades, known as Alligator Alcatraz, could shut down as early as next month, according to the latest news reports.
Vendors were reportedly told Tuesday that the facility would “be broken down” starting in June, according to the New York Times. CBS News Miami reported similar news of a pending shutdown.
It’s unclear where the existing detainees would end up. Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, who visited the facility last month, said that nearly 1,500 detainees are housed under "inhumane" conditions.
It opened last July in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 50 miles west of Miami, and has already cost Florida taxpayers at least $640 million.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly claimed taxpayers would be reimbursed by the federal government but that has yet to happen.
READ MORE: DeSantis confirms 'Alligator Alcatraz' may shut down sooner than expected
Since opening last summer, the immigration detention center has attracted complaints of harsh treatment of detainees, harmful environmental impacts and an ongoing U.S. Senate investigation into torture allegations.
WLRN spoke with one Cuban man who said he was chained from hand to foot at the facility, when he wasn’t held in cells he described as “monkey cages” with other detainees.
Another Nicaraguan migrant told WLRN that he was placed in a four-by-four cell, that guards called “the box,” in direct sunlight without water for hours — as punishment for an argument.
The detention center has also been costly for the state to run.
Records unearthed in lawsuit filings found that the Florida Division of Emergency Management — which built and operated the facility — spent more than $1 million per day to manage it.
Last week, DeSantis confirmed that there were talks to close the facility. He said Florida stepped up when no other states would help to speed up deportations and expand detention space under President Donald Trump's nationwide aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.
“It has made a major impact,” he said. “If we shut down the lights on it tomorrow, we will be able to say it served its purpose.”
