Latest news with #BakerCorrectional
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida governor says state will open ‘deportation depot' immigration jail
Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Thursday that the state will open a second immigration jail, as a federal judge weighs whether to close the controversial existing facility in the Everglades known as 'Alligator Alcatraz'. DeSantis painted the forthcoming detention center at the shuttered Baker correctional institution in Sanderson as supplementary to the remote tented camp. He also said the facility would hold up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation. 'We need additional capacity beyond what we're already doing down in south Florida. There's a massive part here at Baker that isn't being used. [It's] ready-made infrastructure,' DeSantis announced during a press conference at the disused jail 50 miles north of Gainesville. Baker was closed in 2021 after numerous reports of excessive violence and abuse of inmates by guards. The governor gave no timeline for its opening, but said the facility, which he said would be called 'the deportation depot', would be operational soon. 'We're not rushing to do it right this day, but they're doing what they need to do to get it done with all deliberate speed,' he said. 'It's a priority for the people of this state, it's a priority for the people of this country.' The development came on the heels of district court judge Kathleen Williams hearing final arguments in Miami on Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by an alliance of environmental groups seeking to close Alligator Alcatraz. Related: Ice deported boy with cancer and two other US citizen children to Honduras, suit alleges The six-week old facility has been beset by allegations of 'inhumane' conditions including detainees held in cages in excessive heat, broken toilets and air conditioning, inadequate food, and a claim this week that a respiratory virus was running rampant. Williams last week issued a two-week restraining order halting new construction at the Everglades detention facility, while allowing operations there to continue. She said she would decide whether to renew it before its 21 August expiration. In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs claiming the camp was causing irreversible destruction to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, said it was 'optimistic' that the Alligator Alcatraz facility would be closed while the lawsuit proceeds. 'We're feeling hopeful that the strong case we've made over the last few days will move the court to pump the brakes on this dangerous detention center,' said attorney Elise Bennett, the group's Florida and Caribbean director. DeSantis made no mention of the lawsuit on Thursday, but confirmed the state's emergency management department, which operates Alligator Alcatraz on behalf of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (Ice) using a range of private contractors, was working in haste to have the camp at Baker opened. 'We're taking yet another step in supporting the important mission that President Trump was elected to implement, securing the border and enforcing immigration laws, and removing illegal aliens,' he said. DeSantis highlighted a number of other steps his administration had taken, including banning so-called sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants and forcing state law enforcement agencies to support or participate in Ice actions. 'We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile,' he said. DeSantis said he had originally looked at opening an immigration jail at Camp Blanding, a joint military training base west of Jacksonville, but his staff had concluded that Baker was a better option because it was a 'one-stop shop' close to Lake City airport and its longer runway. 'The reason is not to house people indefinitely; we want to process and return illegal aliens to their home country. That is the name of the game,' he said.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Florida governor announces state to open ‘deportation depot' immigration jail
Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, said on Thursday that the state will open a second immigration jail, as a federal judge weighs whether to close the controversial existing facility in the Everglades known as 'Alligator Alcatraz'. DeSantis painted the forthcoming detention center at the shuttered Baker correctional institution in Sanderson as supplementary to the remote tented camp. He also said the facility would hold up to 1,300 undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation. 'We need additional capacity beyond what we're already doing down in south Florida. There's a massive part here at Baker that isn't being used. [It's] ready-made infrastructure,' DeSantis announced during a press conference at the disused jail 50 miles north of Gainesville. Baker was closed in 2021 after numerous reports of excessive violence and abuse of inmates by guards. The governor gave no timeline for its opening, but said the facility, which he said would be called 'the deportation depot', would be operational soon. 'We're not rushing to do it right this day, but they're doing what they need to do to get it done with all deliberate speed,' he said. 'It's a priority for the people of this state, it's a priority for the people of this country.' The development came on the heels of district court judge Kathleen Williams hearing final arguments in Miami on Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by an alliance of environmental groups seeking to close Alligator Alcatraz. The six-week old facility has been beset by allegations of 'inhumane' conditions including detainees held in cages in excessive heat, broken toilets and air conditioning, inadequate food, and a claim this week that a respiratory virus was running rampant. Williams last week issued a two-week restraining order halting new construction at the Everglades detention facility, while allowing operations there to continue. She said she would decide whether to renew it before its 21 August expiration. In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs claiming the camp was causing irreversible destruction to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, said it was 'optimistic' that the Alligator Alcatraz facility would be closed while the lawsuit proceeds. 'We're feeling hopeful that the strong case we've made over the last few days will move the court to pump the brakes on this dangerous detention center,' said attorney Elise Bennett, the group's Florida and Caribbean director. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion DeSantis made no mention of the lawsuit on Thursday, but confirmed the state's emergency management department, which operates Alligator Alcatraz on behalf of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) using a range of private contractors, was working in haste to have the camp at Baker opened. 'We're taking yet another step in supporting the important mission that President Trump was elected to implement, securing the border and enforcing immigration laws, and removing illegal aliens,' he said. DeSantis highlighted a number of other steps his administration has taken, including banning so-called sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants and forcing state law enforcement agencies to support or participate in Ice actions. 'We have done more on this than any other state by a country mile,' he said. DeSantis said he had originally looked at opening an immigration jail at Camp Blanding, a joint military training base west of Jacksonville, but his staff had concluded that Baker was a better option because it was a 'one-stop shop' close to Lake City airport and its longer runway. 'The reason is not to house people indefinitely; we want to process and return illegal aliens to their home country. That is the name of the game,' he said.
CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Gov. DeSantis announces plans for new "Deportation Depot" in Florida. Here's what we know.
In an effort to assist the Trump administration in securing the border and enforcing immigration laws, Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he has authorized a new detention facility at a prison in North Florida. The governor said the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, which is about 45 miles west of Jacksonville, would be able to hold approximately 1,300 detainees. He said the site is near Lake City Gateway Airport which would enable deportation flights. The facility has been vacant for several years after it was closed down in 2021 as the state grappled with severe staff shortages, according to the Miami Herald. "We are calling this the deportation depot," DeSantis said at a news conference on Thursday at the site. "We want to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country." The governor said the site will be operational soon, "it is not going to take forever, but we are also not rushing to do this right this day." It could take two to three weeks to get the facility operational, according to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the agency in charge of building the immigration facilities. After opening the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention site in Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified opening the second detention center by saying President Donald Trump's administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants. "A lot of illegal aliens can get rounded up, I mean that's just the nature of the problem because you've had so many come in. We know in Florida there's anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 that already have final orders of removal. So they are in our country illegally, they've already gone through the process and they have been ordered to be removed, and yet nothing had happened. So, we're working to correct that," DeSantis said. The governor said the Department of Homeland Security told him that the state is rounding up undocumented immigrants faster than they can hold, process and deport them. DeSantis said that was the inspiration to construct the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention site in the Everglades. He said many have been processed and flown out of the facility already, and they are doing more and more every day. "We also said we have the ability to do more than that. DHS in their agreement with us, because they are reimbursing these expenses, they anticipate up to 5,000. So we said you are probably going to need a different facility if you want to do that many," DeSantis said. DeSantis pledged that detainees at the new facility will have "the same services" that are available at the state's first detention center. Attorneys for detainees at the Everglades facility have called the conditions there deplorable, writing in a court filing that some detainees are showing symptoms of COVID-19 without being separated from the general population. Rainwater floods their tents and officers go cell-to-cell pressuring detainees to sign voluntary removal orders before they're allowed to consult their attorneys. "Recent conditions at Alligator Alcatraz have fueled a sense of desperation among detainees," the attorneys said in the court filing. Conditions at the hastily built detention center were outlined in a filing made Wednesday ahead of a hearing Monday over the legal rights of the detainees. Civil rights attorneys want U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to ensure that detainees at the facility have confidential access to their lawyers, which the lawyers say they haven't had. Last week, in a second court filing, a federal judge in Miami ordered the state to stop construction at the Everglades site for two weeks amid a legal battle over the potential environmental impacts. Environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe are urging U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to issue a preliminary injunction halting operations and construction at the site, arguing it threatens sensitive wetlands and endangered wildlife. But Williams said she will not rule until the end of a temporary construction freeze, which expires Aug. 21.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Florida opening Deportation Depot at former prison to operate alongside Alligator Alcatraz
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is turning a shuttered state prison into another immigration detention center that can hold up to 1,300 people. While a federal judge considers whether to shut down another detention facility that Donald Trump's administration and Florida officials are calling Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades, DeSantis on Thursday announced the state is moving forward with 'Deportation Depot.' 'This will be operational soon, it is not going to take forever, but we are also not rushing to do this right this day,' DeSantis said Thursday. The prison — located within a rural stretch of the state between Tallahassee and Jacksonville — will operate inside Baker Correctional Institution, joining a new wave of state-run detention centers working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to boost the president's mass deportation agenda. 'The reason for this is not to just house people indefinitely. We want to process, stage and then return illegal aliens to their home country. That is the name of the game,' DeSantis said. The prison first opened in 1978 with a capacity for 1,165 inmates in a mix of security levels, including for inmates who are considered high security risks. It closed in 2021 follow staffing shortages in the state's correctional facilities. The governor's announcement follows a federal court order to stop any new construction at Alligator Alcatraz following a lawsuit from environmental groups warning that the facility endangers surrounding wetlands and wildlife. That 3,000-bed detention center opened in south Florida last month within the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, roughly 43 miles from Miami in the middle of the Everglades. A federal lawsuit accuses the facility of blocking detainees from legal counsel and forcing people into 'overcrowded, unsanitary, and harsh conditions' with inadequate food, flood-prone cells, and 'excessive use of force' from guards that sent at least one man to a hospital. It's also unclear who is actually running the facility and who wants to take responsibility for it. Government lawyers could not immediately answer in court whether the federal government or Florida is responsible. In court filings, immigration officials claimed that the facility is operating through the federal 287(g) program, which allows local and state law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law. ICE has inked nearly 800 such agreements covering 40 states. That makeshift facility is expected to cost roughly $450 million within its first year, at roughly $245 per inmate bed per night, according to Homeland Security. ICE spent roughly $187 per adult detainee per day in 2023. The incoming wave of state-run detention centers is expected to tap into $45 billion in new funding for ICE as part of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' That bill also allocates $30 billion for an aggressive recruitment campaign to hire another 10,000 ICE agents. boon to for-profit contractors and cash-strapped states looking to tap into billions of taxpayer dollars. This is a developing story
