


Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday the federal government will fund a state push from Florida to set up immigration detention centers, including a proposed site in the Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Noem said the push to create the detention centers will be funded “in large part” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s shelter and services program. This program, created by Congress in 1987, has supported places receiving migrants and asylum seekers who were released from federal custody at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Florida officials proposed the partnership last week. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said that an abandoned airfield in the Everglades would be repurposed as an immigration detention facility with 5,000 beds. He called it “Alligator Alcatraz,” noting that dangerous conditions, including alligators and pythons in the Everglades, would deter people from trying to escape — with the conditions serving a similar purpose to the rough waters outside Alcatraz prison.
“I’m proud to help support President Trump and Secretary Noem in their mission to fix our illegal immigration problem once and for all,” he said in a statement. “Alligator Alcatraz and other Florida facilities will do just that.”
Florida’s move represents a larger push by Republican-led states to assist the Trump administration in its mass deportation efforts.
The facility will cost the state around $450 million a year to run. The Republican-backed megabill in Congress designates $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, a large increase from its previous $3.4 billion fund.
FEMA has roughly $625 million in Shelter and Services Program funds that can be allocated for the effort, which will cost $245 per bed per day for 5,000 beds via a team of vendors.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the New York Times the goal is to have at least some of the tents at “Alligator Alcatraz” up and running by July.
Members of Congress have warned Noem that she is overspending her department’s budget. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned Noem that DHS risks running out of its annual $65 billion funding by July, two months before the end of fiscal 2025.
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“Your department is out of control,” he told Noem. “You are running out of money.”
“I am very concerned that DHS is now dramatically overspending funding that Congress has not provided,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said. “We take our responsibility seriously to fund your department and others. We need to have answers, we need to have accountability, and we need to make sure you’re not overspending money that you were not allocated.”