Latest news with #KevinGuthrie
New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
First Deportation Flights Depart From Florida's ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
The first deportation flights from Florida's new immigration detention center in the Everglades began departing this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday, about three weeks after detainees started to arrive at what appears to be the nation's only state-run migrant detention facility. The governor did not provide specific details at a news conference, saying only that 'a number' of flights carrying 'hundreds' of federal immigration detainees have departed the state-run detention center, which Florida officials have named 'Alligator Alcatraz.' He said the flights were operated by the Department of Homeland Security, but not where they went after they departed the Everglades. The facility, which immigration experts have describe as the only one of its kind, is essentially a cluster of hastily erected tents and trailers on an old airfield. Mr. DeSantis said it has been equipped with ground-to-air communications, radar and runway lighting. There are 5,000 gallons of jet fuel on site, he added. 'This airport is able to accept commercial flight aircraft and conduct both day and nighttime operations,' he said. Environmental groups have sued to halt construction of the detention center, which is surrounded by protected lands. Kevin Guthrie, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, was dismissive about environmental concerns at the news conference. He claimed that the facility, an old training airport, used to have 'over a hundred flights a day,' a detail that it was not possible to immediately confirm. The state is using the old airfield, which belongs to Miami-Dade County, under emergency powers. On Friday, the county's mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, renewed her request to state officials brief county officials on the detention center and provide them with access to conduct oversight. 'The county received no formal communication from your office prior to the development and deployment of this facility, and repeated efforts to seek transparency have been ignored or rebuffed,' she wrote in a letter to Mr. Guthrie. 'Our residents deserve full accountability for operations taking place on county-owned property.' Florida officials raced to build the center last month, justifying its remote, swampy location in part by saying that deportation flights would be able to take off from there. 'There's an 11,000-foot runway, which will enable large planes to come in and out and can carry hundreds and hundreds of people,' James Uthmeier, the state's Republican attorney general, told Fox News on June 25. State officials have said the detainees at the facility have final deportation orders from the federal government, but immigration lawyers say they have not had adequate access to clients being held there. The American Civil Liberties Union sued last week over detainees' lack of access to legal counsel and violations of due process. 'The U.S. Constitution does not allow the government to simply lock people away without any ability to communicate with counsel or to petition the court for release from custody,' Eunice Cho, senior counsel with the A.C.L.U.'s National Prison Project and the lead lawyers in the case, said in a statement. Mr. Guthrie said on Friday that on-site lawyer visits 'should be starting' on Monday and that they did not begin earlier because of technology problems. Mr. DeSantis said that the Everglades detention center has a current capacity of 'a couple thousand' detainees. Mr. Guthrie said state officials planned to grow that capacity to about 4,000. If the facility becomes more full, Mr. DeSantis reiterated his plans for the state to open a second detention center in North Florida. The DeSantis administration has sought to deputize Judge Advocate General Corps officers from the Florida National Guard to serve as immigration judges at the Everglades center, in an effort to fast-track deportations. Mr. DeSantis said that the federal government has not yet given the state that approval. Florida has also developed a pilot program to encourage unauthorized immigrants to self-deport, Larry Keefe, the executive director of a new state board overseeing immigration issues, told the board on Tuesday. The board comprises Mr. DeSantis; Mr. Uthmeier; Blaise Ingoglia, the state's chief financial officer, and Wilton Simpson, the state's agriculture commissioner. Florida's self-deportation initiative, in partnership with Customs and Border Protection, is distinct from a federal program that offers unauthorized immigrants a $1,000 cash stipend and a plane ticket to fly to their home country, Mr. Keefe said. Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting from Washington.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Florida offering migrants money to self-deport or they could get sent to ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
Florida law enforcement and federal officials are partnering on a program offering immigrants state funds if they agree to self-deport. The program, first reported on by the Washington Examiner, highlights how Florida has deeply integrated its law enforcement apparatus with federal immigration priorities under Governor Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally. Under the initiative, which has been operational for several weeks, state law enforcement, including the state Highway Patrol, take those accused of being in the country illegally to federal Border Patrol stations. There, they are offered state funds for a self-deportation flight. 'We give them that one last chance — and you can quote me on this — to do the right thing, and that is self-deport,' Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told the outlet. 'And if they do that, then we, the state of Florida, will help them get from Florida back to their home country by purchasing that low-cost, one-way flight.' Officials said the program was a cost-effective way to process immigration cases and allow immigrants to avoid remaining in detention for what could be months amid backlogs to see an immigration judge. The federal government operates a similar program, using the CBP Home app and $1000 paid incentives to encourage people to self-deport. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, called the program 'inherently coercive,' noting that those who refuse could end up in the state's ' Alligator Alcatraz ' immigration detention facility, where migrants have complained of inhumane conditions and civil rights groups say detainees are denied access to legal counsel. 'This program raises MAJOR due process concerns,' Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X. 'People are being forced to make a decision to leave behind their families, jobs, houses, and lives in the United States in a matter of hours — at the threat of being detained in conditions all know are bad.' Governor DeSantis has encouraged state and local police agencies, ranging from the Highway Patrol to state university police departments, to join the federal 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local police departments to carry out immigration enforcement. Florida residents say the incorporation of local police into federal immigration has caused Latino communities to fear driving on the roads, and to cease displaying flags or playing Spanish-language music while driving. Critics like the ACLU claim that such state-federal immigration collaborations are a 'license to abuse' and encourage law enforcement to profile people they suspect to be unlawful immigrants because of their skin color or language. A report from the group analyzed the more than 140 local law enforcement agencies in the program as of 2022 and found that at least 59 percent of the sheriffs in the program have a record of 'anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric' and 65 percent have shown a 'pattern of racial profiling and other civil rights violations, including excessive use of force.'
Washington Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt 'Alligator Alcatraz' filed in wrong court, Florida official says
Florida's top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as 'Alligator Alcatraz' in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing.
CBS News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Lawsuit to halt Alligator Alcatraz filed in wrong court, Florida's top emergency manager says
Florida's top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing. "And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade," Guthrie said. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida's southern district last month, asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit. Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands, while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea, as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity.
Al Arabiya
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Environmentalists' lawsuit to halt Alligator Alcatraz filed in wrong court, Florida official says
Florida's top emergency official asked a federal judge on Monday to resist a request by environmentalists to halt an immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz in the middle of the Florida Everglades because their lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida's southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County which is in the state's middle district. Decisions about the facility also were made in Tallahassee and Washington, Kevin Guthrie, executive director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in a court filing. 'And all the detention facilities, all the buildings, and all the paving at issue are sited in Collier County, not Miami-Dade,' Guthrie said. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Florida's southern district last month asking for the project being built on an airstrip in the heart of the Florida Everglades to be halted because the process didn't follow state and federal environmental laws. A virtual hearing was being held Monday on the lawsuit. Critics have condemned the facility as a cruel and inhumane threat to the ecologically sensitive wetlands while Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of the state's aggressive push to support President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has praised Florida for coming forward with the idea as the department looks to significantly expand its immigration detention capacity.
