Deportations start at Alligator Alcatraz as Florida officials vow to "surge" immigration arrests
DeSantis, a Republican who has sought to vocally highlight his state's efforts to aid the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, said several hundred individuals in line for deportation for alleged immigration offenses had been relocated from the Alligator Alcatraz site to other states or straight to their home countries.
"The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens," DeSantis said during a press conference at Alligator Alcatraz, noting the site has a runway that can accommodate deportation planes.
Florida state officials have overseen the construction of the Everglades facility and the detention of individuals there under a cooperation agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the deportation process is still overseen by federal officials. During the same event Friday, Garrett Ripa, a top ICE official in Florida, confirmed "two or three" deportation flights had taken off from Alligator Alcatraz.
DeSantis said the cadence of flights would increase, citing the tens of billions of dollars Congress recently gave the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and Florida's expanding efforts to leverage state resources and manpower to help federal officials identify, arrest and detain immigrants living illegally in the Sunshine State.
The governor predicted the Justice Department would "very soon" approve a plan for Florida National Guard lawyers, known as judge advocates, to gain the powers of federal immigration judges and adjudicate the cases of those detained at Alligator Alcatraz.
Standing next to DeSantis, Larry Keefe, the executive director of Florida's Board of Immigration Enforcement, warned those in the U.S. illegally that there would be a "surge" in immigration arrests in the state, saying local law enforcement officials have roughly doubled their capacity to arrest immigrants suspected of violating federal immigration laws.
Keefe said 1,800 Florida troopers deputized as federal immigration agents had been conducting arrests throughout the state. But he added that in the past few days, the Trump administration has issued "credentials" to an additional 1,200 sheriff's deputies and 650 state agents to bolster Florida's efforts to assist the federal government's mass deportation campaign.
Under arrangements with ICE known as 287(g) agreements, local and state officials can enforce federal immigration laws to varying degrees that can include the arresting and detaining those in the U.S. unlawfully. Florida law requires state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said Alligator Alcatraz can currently accommodate 2,000 detainees, but that the state is working to expand capacity at the facility to be able to hold 4,000 individuals there.
Guthrie defended conditions at the tent facility, and said state officials were prepared for any storm-related issues during hurricane season. Detainees held at Alligator Alcatraz have reported poor and unsanitary conditions, including food with maggots, not being able to shower regularly and not having access to lawyers, CBS News Miami has reported.
Asked about the hurricane concerns, DeSantis said there's no place in Florida "totally immune" from storms, adding that contingency plans were in place.
"This ain't our first rodeo," he said.
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