Florida to use shuttered prison as 2nd immigration detention center after ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
'It's obvious this judge is hostile,' DeSantis told reporters. 'It's a political thing.'
DeSantis made it clear that if Williams does rule against the state over 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Florida will quickly appeal the ruling and seek it to have it stayed.
Baker was one of a handful of state prisons closed in 2021 as state corrections officials struggled to find enough employees to guard prisoners. The situation got so dire that the state eventually brought in members of the Florida National Guard to help.
That arrangement ended this summer. But state officials said that the National Guard will be used to staff the new center, not correctional officers.
Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management responsible for helping set up the center, said that the Baker site and a couple of other prisons had always been on the state's 'radar' as possible locations.
As part of the work to get it ready to open, the state will bring in air-conditioning units to pump in chilled air. He said that state law does not require air-conditioning in its prisons, but federal standards call for detainees to be in a climate-controlled location.
'A building that's been dormant now for a couple of years is going to have some unforeseen challenges,' Guthrie acknowledged in getting the prison ready for detainees.
Florida has been paying for the creation of the new detention centers on its own, but it has been promised more than $600 million in grant funds by the federal government to cover the cost. A spokesperson for Guthrie did not immediately respond to a question as to whether Florida has gotten any money back yet.
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CNN
a minute ago
- CNN
West Virginia National Guard being sent to DC as White House escalates police takeover
West Virginia National Guard troops are now being sent to Washington, DC, in an escalation of President Donald Trump's efforts to federally take over law enforcement in the city. 'At the request of the Trump administration, I have directed the @WVNationalGuard to support the President's initiative to make D.C. safe and beautiful. We are deploying 300-400 skilled personnel to the nation's capital, reflecting our commitment to a strong and secure America,' West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said in an X post on Saturday. The efforts will be federally funded, and the state's National Guard will provide 'mission-essential' equipment and training, according to a statement from the governor's office. A White House official said Saturday that the troops are a part of 'Trump's ongoing effort to make DC safe and beautiful' and the 'National Guard's role has not changed.' Its role in DC this week has, so far, not been to make arrests. 'The National Guard will protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime,' the official said. CNN has reached out to the DC mayor's office for comment. The troops' deployment is an escalation of Trump's efforts to take federal control of the DC police department as he rails against crime in the capital. The president previously announced that he was deploying over 800 DC National Guard troops to the city and surging federal agents into the streets, but Saturday's move marks the first time National Guard troops outside of the city have been directed to support the Trump administration. 'We stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region and contribute to the collective effort of making our nation's capital a clean and safe environment. The National Guard's unique capabilities and preparedness make it an invaluable partner in this important undertaking,' West Virginia Adjutant General Jim Seward, who will command the deployment of the state's troops, said in a statement. The move comes amid scrutiny over the takeover in the nation's capital. Washington, DC, sued the Trump administration on Friday to block Attorney General Pam Bondi's Thursday directive for the city to accept an 'emergency police commissioner,' acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole, and give him full control of the department during the federal takeover. Following a hearing in federal court, Bondi issued a new order Friday giving control of the Metropolitan Police Department back to its chief, Pamela Smith, in response to a judge's directive. Federal agents have been patrolling the city with local police and making arrests following Trump's order earlier this week declaring a crime emergency and federalizing DC's police. The order cited a public safety emergency after an assault on a former government worker. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has repeatedly said she wants to make sure the federal law enforcement surge is useful to the city, though she struck a more adversarial tone during an event this week, calling Trump's police department takeover an 'authoritarian push.' CNN's Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
West Virginia National Guard being sent to DC as White House escalates takeover
West Virginia National Guard troops are now being sent to Washington, DC, in an escalation of President Donald Trump's efforts to federally take over law enforcement in the city. 'At the request of the Trump administration, I have directed the @WVNationalGuard to support the President's initiative to make D.C. safe and beautiful. We are deploying 300-400 skilled personnel to the nation's capital, reflecting our commitment to a strong and secure America,' West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said in an X post on Saturday. The efforts will be federally funded, and the state's National Guard will provide 'mission-essential' equipment and training, according to a statement from the governor's office. A White House official said Saturday that the troops are a part of 'Trump's ongoing effort to make DC safe and beautiful' and the 'National Guard's role has not changed.' Its role in DC this week has, so far, not been to make arrests. 'The National Guard will protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime,' the official said. CNN has reached out to the DC mayor's office for comment. The troops' deployment is an escalation of Trump's efforts to take federal control of the DC police department as he rails against crime in the capital. The president previously announced that he was deploying over 800 DC National Guard troops to the city and surging federal agents into the streets, but Saturday's move marks the first time National Guard troops outside of the city have been directed to support the Trump administration. 'We stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region and contribute to the collective effort of making our nation's capital a clean and safe environment. The National Guard's unique capabilities and preparedness make it an invaluable partner in this important undertaking,' West Virginia Adjutant General Jim Seward, who will command the deployment of the state's troops, said in a statement. The move comes amid scrutiny over the takeover in the nation's capital. Washington, DC, sued the Trump administration on Friday to block Attorney General Pam Bondi's Thursday directive for the city to accept an 'emergency police commissioner,' acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole, and give him full control of the department during the federal takeover. Following a hearing in federal court, Bondi issued a new order Friday giving control of the Metropolitan Police Department back to its chief, Pamela Smith, in response to a judge's directive. Federal agents have been patrolling the city with local police and making arrests following Trump's order earlier this week declaring a crime emergency and federalizing DC's police. The order cited a public safety emergency after an assault on a former government worker. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has repeatedly said she wants to make sure the federal law enforcement surge is useful to the city, though she struck a more adversarial tone during an event this week, calling Trump's police department takeover an 'authoritarian push.' CNN's Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Notice a theme to Trump's planned takeovers of cities? These Black mayors do.
President Trump has warned he might send the National Guard to other cities. The Black mayors of those cities vow to push back. OAKLAND, California ‒ Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and other officials in this California city are treating President Donald Trump's warning that he might send the National Guard there as more than just an offhand comment. They're bracing for a fight. Lee and other Black mayors, along with civil rights activists and lawmakers across the country are increasingly concerned about Trump singling out cities like Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, DC. All of them are led by Black mayors and all of those leaders are Democrats. 'We just can't help but feel in some kind of way that we're being specifically profiled," said Van R. Johnson, president of the African American Mayors Association and mayor of Savannah, Georgia. 'That's not right. That's not fair. We want our federal government to work with us. We're just a phone call away.' New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Trump's takeover of DC's policing a 'blatantly racist and despicable power grab.' 'It won't stop in Washington, DC," she said in a statement. 'The stakes are high not just for Washington, DC, but for the future of democracy in every corner of this country.' Trump used his presidential powers in early August to take over policing in Washington, DC, complaining crime is rampant and officials haven't done enough to address it ‒ despite statistics showing crime in the district is at a 30-year-low. Trump also threatened to deploy the National Guard to help fight crime in other communities. "We're going to take back our capital," Trump said Aug. 11. "And then we'll look at other cities also." He called it a "historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse." Different visions for tackling urban problems White House officials argue the nation's capital is filthy and that Trump has seen that firsthand. In March, Trump signed an executive order titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful," which sets up a task force of federal officials to clean up the city. 'If Democrats had any common sense, they would follow President Trump's lead to crack down on violent crime that has plagued our nation's capital – and Democrat-run cities across the country," Taylor Rogers, White House assistant press secretary, said in an email to USA TODAY. "Instead of criticizing President Trump's popular, tough-on crime policies, they should focus on cleaning up their own cities which are some of the most dangerous places in America." Many big cities are run by Democrats, but both violent and property crimes have fallen nationwide in recent years, federal data shows. Civil rights leaders criticized Trump for portraying cities, especially those led by Black mayors, as crime ridden. "Painting a false picture of the city's largest Black-majority cities, led by Black mayors, is part of the Trump administration's ongoing strategy to exploit racial distrust for political gain,'' Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and George Lambert, president of the Greater Washington Urban League President, said in a statement. If Trump really wanted to help cities, several mayors argued, he wouldn't be cutting funding for anti-poverty programs and community policing efforts. 'We need to have this federal government invest in cities like Oakland instead of disinvesting in us,' said Lee, who spent 27 years in Congress, including during Trump's first term. 'It doesn't make any sense what this government is doing if they want to see cities not just survive but thrive.' More: 'DC has a right to govern itself': Civil rights leaders denounce Trump's takeover move 'Reasonable people can look at the optics' Trump has yet to publicly bring up race in his criticisms of those cities, but experts point to his history of racially disparaging remarks, including during his first term when he questioned why the United States would let in people from countries like Haiti and parts of Africa, which he referred to using an expletive. Trump also called Baltimore, a predominately Black city, a 'disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.' While the president didn't specifically mention race then or in his recent references, it's clearly implied, said Jason Williams, a professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Williams said urban centers historically have been code for talking about Black people or communities of color. 'He doesn't necessarily have to say it in order for his base to know what the implications are,' said Williams, adding that most people know DC has a significant Black population. 'It does give him some plausible deniability. Not that I think this president would care." Oakland's Lee told USA TODAY she finds Trump's actions "fearmongering and diversionary." "A lot of what he does is to provoke unrest and that gives him an excuse, so we have to be prepared and ready to fight," she said. Oakland has a contingency plan if Trump tries to send in National Guard, Lee added. When asked if she could provide any details, the mayor replied, 'I'm not at liberty to do that right now. That would be inappropriate at this point.' In DC, Trump justified his actions by citing a recent overnight assault of a former federal official and in Los Angeles, he called in the National Guard to quell civil protests spurred by the aggressive immigration crackdown. He might take advantage of other isolated incidents to target other big cities, said Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy at the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization focused on criminal justice. "It's the red meat that Trump uses to rile up the MAGA base and it is effective as bait only when it's left unchecked," Rahman said. 'We've been here before' Federal officials have sometimes used their powers to undermine Black urban leadership and portray them as chaotic and incompetent or crime prone, Williams said. He pointed to examples such as the urban renewal of the 1960s and 1970s when federal officials displaced Black neighborhoods with highways and a century earlier, after Reconstruction, when governments dismantled post-Civil War gains. 'We've been here before with federal overreach and an attempt to try to roll back hard-won wins," Williams said. The nation's capital has long been in the crosshairs of Trump and GOP congressional leaders. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold funds if Bowser didn't remove a Black Lives Matter mural from a street near the White House. 'DC has always been this sort of political football for the Republicans,' Williams said. While some Black mayors are concerned about their cities becoming a Trump target, they're continuing their work to combat crime, Johnson, the Savannah mayor, said. 'We're worried about fighting our federal government as well as fighting crime," he said. 'It's a continuous 'what if, what next,' which we think are distractions from what the American people are really talking about.' Johnson said the ideologies and approaches of some Black mayors may be different than Trump's, but that doesn't mean they can't be partners on issues, including crime. 'We understand elections. We're politicians ourselves," he said. 'We're charged with playing with whoever is on the field. When Donald Trump became president, he became president of our cities too.' Contributing: Phillip Bailey
