Official Says Alligator Alcatraz Could Be Empty Within Days

A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and the federal government fight a judge's order to shutter "Alligator Alcatraz" by late October. That's according to an email exchange shared with the AP.

• In a message sent to South Florida Rabbi Mario Rojzman on Aug. 22 related to providing chaplaincy services at the facility, Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie said, "we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days." Rojzman and the executive assistant who sent the original email to Guthrie both confirmed the veracity of the messages to the AP on Wednesday.

• The facility was rapidly constructed two months ago with the goal of holding up to 3,000 detainees as part of President Trump's push to deport people in the US illegally.
• At one point, it held almost 1,000 detainees, but Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost says that he was told during a tour last week that only 300 to 350 detainees remained. Three lawsuits challenging practices at the detention center have been filed, including one that estimated at least 100 detainees who had been at the facility have been deported. Others have been transferred to other immigration detention centers.
• News that the last detainee could leave the facility within days came less than a week after a federal judge in Miami ordered the detention center to wind down operations, with the last detainee needing to be out within 60 days. The state of Florida appealed the decision, and the federal government asked US District Judge Kathleen Williams to put her order on hold pending the appeal, saying that the Everglades facility's thousands of beds were badly needed since detention facilities in Florida were overcrowded.
• The environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose lawsuit led to the judge's ruling, opposed the request. They disputed that the Everglades facility was needed, especially as Florida plans to open a second immigration detention facility in north Florida that DeSantis has dubbed "Deportation Depot." Home Depot objected to the Florida GOP's attempt to sell Deportation Depot merch that resembled its branding.